From my perspective, mandatory military or national service could be a useful intervention specifically for people who are just beginning to build a criminal record because the data show how difficult it is to break the cycle once someone enters the justice system. In the United States, about 68% of released prisoners are rearrested within three years, 79% within six years, and 83% within nine years, indicating that early criminal involvement often leads to long-term patterns of reoffending (Alper et al., 2018; Prison Policy Initiative, 2023) . Programs that introduce structure, discipline, and employment skills at an early stage could interrupt that trajectory before it escalates into repeated incarceration. Research also suggests that structured institutions like the military can have stabilizing effects: studies have found that veterans experience roughly an 18% lower hazard of recidivism compared with comparable non-veterans, indicating that military training, social integration, and career pathways may reduce later criminal behavior (Craig & Connell, 2025) . Because early offenders are often younger—and younger individuals have some of the highest rearrest rates—intervening at this stage with a structured service option could provide discipline, job training, and education that reduce the likelihood of long-term criminal involvement (U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2022) . For that reason, I see mandatory service for first-time or low-level offenders less as punishment and more as an early rehabilitation strategy that could redirect people before their criminal record becomes entrenched.