Draft evasion or conscription evasion (also referred to pejoratively as draft dodging) is avoiding a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws. Illegal draft evasion is said to have characterized every military conflict of the 20th and 21st centuries, in which at least one party of such conflict has enforced conscription. Such evasion is generally considered to be a criminal offense,Beare, Margaret E., ed. (2012). Encyclopedia of Transnational Crime and Justice. Sage Publications, p. 110 ("Draft Dodging" entry). . and laws against it go back thousands of years.
There are many draft evasion practices. Those that manage to adhere to or circumvent the law, and those that do not involve taking a public stand, are sometimes referred to as draft avoidance. Draft evaders are sometimes pejoratively referred to as draft dodgers,Bell, Walter F. "Draft Dodgers". In Tucker, Spencer C. (2013). American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 545–546. . although in certain contexts that term has also been used non-judgmentally or as an honorific.Kasinsky, Renée G. (2006). "Fugitives from Injustice: Vietnam War Draft Dodgers and Deserters in British Columbia". In Evans, Sterling, ed. (2006). The Borderlands of the American and Canadian West: Essays on Regional History of the Forty-ninth Parallel. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, p. 270. .
Practices that involve lawbreaking or taking a public stand are sometimes referred to as draft resistance. Although draft resistance is discussed below as a form of "draft evasion", draft resisters and scholars of draft resistance reject the categorization of resistance as a form of evasion or avoidance. Draft resisters argue that they seek to confront, not evade or avoid, the draft.
Draft evasion has been a significant phenomenon in countries as different as Belarus, Colombia, Eritrea, the Netherlands, Canada, France, Russia, South Korea, Syria, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. Accounts by scholars and journalists, along with memoiristic writings by draft evaders, indicate that the motives and beliefs of the evaders cannot be usefully stereotyped.
Draft evasion practices
Young people have engaged in a wide variety of draft evasion practices around the world, some of which date back thousands of years.Prasad, Devi; Smythe, Tony, eds. (1968). Conscription: A World Survey: Compulsory Military Service and Resistance To It. London: War Resisters' International. .Christ, Matthew R. (2006). The Bad Citizen in Classical Athens. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Press, pp. 52–57 (from the "Draft Evasion and Compulsory Military Service" section). . This section aims to delineate a representative sampling of draft evasion practices and support activities as identified by scholars and journalists. Examples of many of these practices and activities can be found in the section on draft evasion in the nations of the world, further down this page.
Draft avoidance One type of draft avoidance consists of attempts to follow the letter and spirit of the draft laws in order to obtain a legally valid draft deferment or exemption.Wittmann, Anna M. (2016). Talking Conflict: The Loaded Language of Genocide, Political Violence, Terrorism, and Warfare. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, pp. 115–116 ("Draft Dodgers" entry). . Sometimes these deferments and exemptions are prompted by political considerations. Another type consists of attempts to circumvent, manipulate, or surreptitiously violate the substance or spirit of the draft laws in order to obtain a deferment or exemption.Domínguez, Jorge I. "The Cuban Armed Forces, the Party and Society in Wsartime and During Rectification". In Gillespie, Rihard, ed. (1990). Cuba After Thirty Years: Rectification and the Revolution. London: Frank Cass & Co., p. 47, 51. . Nearly all attempts at draft avoidance are private and unpublicized. Examples include:
By adhering to the law
Claiming conscientious objector status on the basis of sincerely held religious or ethical beliefs.Gitlin, Todd (1993, orig. 1987). The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: Bantam, rev. ed., pp. 291–292 (beginning of "Varieties of Antiwar Experience" section). .Lynd, Staughton; Lynd, Alice, eds. (1995). Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History, rev. ed. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, Parts V and VII. . Claiming a student deferment, when one is in school primarily in order to study and learn.Domínguez, in Gillespie, ed. (1990), p. 51.Kusch, Frank (2001). All American Boys: Draft Dodgers in Canada from the Vietnam War. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, pp. 70–74. . Claiming a medical or psychological problem, if the purported health issue is genuine and serious. Claiming economic hardship, if the hardship is genuine and the law recognizes such a claim.Palmer, Brandon (2013). Fighting for the Enemy: Koreans in Japan's War, 1937–1945. Seattle: University of Washington Press, p. 113. . Holding a job in what the government considers to be an essential civilian occupation. Purchasing exemptions from military service, in nations where such payments are permitted.Duxbury, Neil (2002). Random Justice: On Lotteries and Legal Decision-Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 154–155 (citing 19th century Belgium and France, as well as America during the Civil War). . Not being chosen in a draft lottery, where lotteries determine the order of call to military service;Fallows, James (1977). "What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?" In Robbins, Mary Susannah, ed. (2007, orig. 1999). Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists. London and Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 159–164. . or not being in a certain age group, where age determines the order of call. Not being able to afford armor or other equipment, in polities where conscripts were required to provide their own.
By circumventing the law
Obtaining conscientious objector status by professing insincere religious or ethical beliefs. Obtaining a student deferment, if the student wishes to attend or remain in school largely to avoid the draft. Claiming a medical or psychological problem, if the purported problem is feigned, overstated, or self-inflicted. Finding a doctor who would certify a healthy draft-age person as medically unfit, either willingly or for pay.Baskir and Strauss (1987), p. 12. Deliberately self-injuring oneself. Becoming pregnant primarily in order to evade the draft, in nations where women who are not mothers are drafted. Falsely claiming to be homosexual, where the military excludes homosexuals. Deliberately failing one's military-related intelligence tests. Claiming economic hardship, if the purported hardship is overstated.Dunn, Clive; Dunn, Gillian (2014). Sunderland in the Great War. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword Books, p. 49 (reporting on a British grocer who was refused a financial exemption, and was given a two-month "extension" instead). . Having someone exert personal influence on an officer in charge of the conscription process. Successfully bribing an officer in charge of the conscription process.
Draft resistance
Draft evasion that involves overt lawbreaking or that communicates conscious or organized resistance to government policy is sometimes referred to as draft resistance.Ferber, Michael (1998). "Why I Joined the Resistance". In Robbins, Mary Susannah, ed. (2007, orig. 1999). Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists. London and Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 111–119. .Foley, Michael S. (2003). Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance During the Vietnam War. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, pp. 6–7, 39, 49, 78. .Sauers, Richard A.; Tomasak, Peter (2012). The Fishing Creek Confederacy: A Story of Civil War Draft Resistance. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. . Examples include:
Actions by resisters Declining to register for the draft, in nations where that is required by law. Declining to report for one's draft-related physical examination, or for military induction or call-up, in nations where these are required by law.Christ (2006), pp. 59, 62. Participating in draft card burnings or turn-ins.Ferber, Michael (1967). "A Time to Say No". In Robbins, Mary Susannah, ed. (2007, orig. 1999). Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists. London and Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, p. 120. . Living "underground" (e.g., living with false identification papers) and working at an unreported job after being indicted for draft evasion. Traveling or emigrating to another country, rather than submitting to induction or to trial.Williams, Roger N. (1971). The New Exiles: American War Resisters in Canada. New York: Liveright Publishers. . Going to jail, rather than submitting to induction or to alternative government service.Kohn, Stephen M. (1987). Jailed for Peace: The History of American Draft Law Violators, 1658 –1985. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. .Harris, David (1976). I Shoulda Been Home Yesterday: 20 Months in Jail for Not Killing Anybody. New York: Delacorte / Dell. . Shooting and/or killing draft officers and civil authorities.
Actions by supporters or resisters
Organizing or participating in a peaceful street assembly or demonstration against the draft. Publicly encouraging, aiding, or abetting draft evaders. Deliberately disrupting a military draft agency's processes or procedures.Dowell, LeiLani, et al. (2006). We Won't Go!: The Truth on Military Recruiters and the Draft – a Guide to Resistance. New York: International Action Center. . Destroying a military draft agency's records.Lynd and Lynd, eds. (1995), Chap. 35 ("Ultra Resistance").Peters, Shawn Francis (2012). The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era. Oxford, UK and New York: Oxford University Press. . Organizing or participating in a riot against the draft.Cook, Adrian (2014, orig. 1982). The Armies of the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots of 1863. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. .Dennis, Patrick M. (2017). Reluctant Warriors: Canadian Conscripts and the Great War. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, pp. 56–57 ("Insurrection" section). . Building an anti-war movement that treats draft resistance as a vital and integral part of it.
By country Draft evasion is said to have characterized every military conflict of the 20th and 21st centuries. Laws against certain draft evasion practices go back at least as far as the ancient Greeks.Arnaoutoglou, Ilias (1998). Ancient Greek Laws: A Sourcebook. New York: Routledge, p. 75 (citing Demosthenes). . Examples of draft evasion can be found in many nations over many time periods: Australia
Australian men were conscripted to fight in the Vietnam War; as in the U.S., this was resisted. Belgium 19th-century Belgium was one of the few places where most citizens accepted the practice of legally buying one's way out of the military draft, sometimes referred to as the practice of "purchasable military commutation". Even so, some Belgian politicians denounced it as a system that appeared to trade the money of the rich for the lives of the poor.
Britain In January 1916, during World War I, the British government passed a military conscription bill. By July of that year, 30% of draftees had failed to report for service.
Canada