Editing Draft evasion (section)

{{short description|Intentional non-compliance with military conscription}}
{{conscription}}
'''Conscription evasion''' or '''draft evasion''' (American English)<ref>{{Cite web |title=draft meaning - Google Search |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=draft&si=ALGXSlZC_jbid1uaZGfc4a798NDvlKr1bLloQYgCcxqj3Zp14qkphQRbHXuJJoZUrvSubkZ-Q7z0gr3yd47eY5r4k6iZ1jPscQ==&expnd=1 |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=www.google.com}}</ref> is any successful attempt to elude a [[conscription|government-imposed obligation]] to serve in the [[military|military forces]] of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation.<ref name=Beare /> 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.<ref name=Wittmann /> Such evasion is generally considered to be a criminal offense,<ref name=Beare>Beare, Margaret E., ed. (2012). ''Encyclopedia of Transnational Crime and Justice''.  Sage Publications, p.&nbsp;110 ("Draft Dodging" entry). {{ISBN|978-1-4129-9077-6}}.</ref> and laws against it go back thousands of years.<ref name = Christ />

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 [[pejorative]]ly referred to as '''draft dodgers''',<ref name=Bell>Bell, Walter F.  "Draft Dodgers". In [[Spencer C. Tucker|Tucker, Spencer C.]] (2013). ''American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection''. Santa Barbara, CA: [[ABC-CLIO]], pp.&nbsp;545–546. {{ISBN|978-1-85109-677-0}}.</ref> although in certain contexts that term has also been used non-judgmentally<ref name=Luhn /><ref name=Rachel /> or as an honorific.<ref>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.&nbsp;270. {{ISBN|978-0-8032-1826-0}}.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foley |first1=Michael S. |title=Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance During the Vietnam War |date=2003 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill, NC |isbn=0-8078-2767-3 |page=6 |url=https://uncpress.org/book/9780807854365/confronting-the-war-machine/ |quote="The blurring of this distinction annoys former draft resisters who today find themselves stressing the difference whenever they talk about it."}}</ref>

Draft evasion has been a significant phenomenon in nations as different as [[Colombia]], [[Eritrea]], [[Canada]], [[France]], [[Russia]], [[South Korea]], [[Syria]], [[Ukraine]] 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.