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The Military Selective Service Act (50 USC (United States Code) App. (Appendix) 451 et seq.) requires most men aged at least 18 but less than 26 to register (50 USC App. 453(a)) with the Selective Service System if they are citizens of or residents in the United States. Men born on or after 1 January 1960 must usually register within 30 days after their 18th birthdays. Late registration is accepted, but men cannot register after reaching age 26. Women are not registered. Selective Service lists registrants for conscription if needed, but it is less useful. Men born from 29 March 1957 to 31 December 1959 have never been required to register when the registration was suspended from 1975 to 1980. Men born on or before 29 March 1957 were registered and conscripted differently. Conscription ended in the United States in 1973 when the Vietnam War was ending.
The 39th President (1977--1981) James Earl (Jimmy) CARTER, Junior resumed the registration in 1980 without automatic expiration as the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Jimmy CARTER was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002. The Petition of the (World-Wide) Anti-Conscription Unity to the Norwegian Nobel Committee was sent on 15 January 2003.
The 40th President (1981--1989) Ronald Wilson REAGAN proposed to end the registration, but neither he nor the Congress did it.
Whether the 41st President (1989--1993) George Herbert Walker BUSH supported or opposed the registration was unknown.
The 42nd President (1993--2001) William Jefferson CLINTON supported the registration even though he was not conscripted during the Vietnam War.
Whether current President (2001--) George Walker BUSH supports or opposes the registration is not clearly known. The Terrorist Attack on 11 September 2001 caused more excuses to keep the registration with Selective Service.
The Registration Information Office may be telephoned at: +1 847 688 6888 +1 888 655 1825 (toll-free unavailable from outside Northern America) Current problems Sample electronic mail with proposals External links
To fail to register as required or knowingly counsel, aid, or abet another to refuse or evade registration is imprisoned for up to 5 years, fined up to 250000 United States dollars (USD), or both (50 USC App. 462(a), 18 USC 3571(b)(3)), upon criminal conviction, but prosecution is rare. 50 USC App. 462(d) prohibits criminal indictment once non-registrants reach age 31.
Certain federal and state benefits require the registration with Selective Service and bar non-registrants administratively. Unregistered men over age 26 may be barred from these benefits forever. Overage unregistered men may have to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the failure to register was not knowing and willful (50 USC App. 462(g)). They may request for Status Information Letter from the Selective Service System. These requirements may remain even when men reach certain ages, whether 31 or 44.
The naturalization requiring the registration with Selective Service has standardized handling of overage unregistered men. Unregistered men aged less than 31 (or 29 if living with wives as citizens of the United States for 3 years) when filing the Application for Naturalization (Form N-400) are denied naturalization unless they prove the failure to register not knowing and willful, as the statutory period of good moral characters for naturalization remains since age 26. The period is 5 years (or 3 years if living with wives as citizens of the United States for 3 years).
Men aged at least 31 (or 29 if living with wives as citizens of the United States for 3 years) when filing the Application for Naturalization are not normally presumed to have knowingly and willfully failed to register unless the proof to the contrary exists. See also:
Boat People S.O.S.: Selective Service Registration Law Offices of Carl SHUSTERM: Selective Service and Naturalization
Men reached or reaching age 20 in a calendar year are to be conscripted first if needed, so some men register in the year when they reach age 21. Conscientious objections can be claimed only upon a real conscription. Other men never register because they consider the registration wrong. They choose to risk criminal and administrative penalties but not any potential conscription.
Conscription is not enforced in the United States, but the registration with Selective Service prepares for it. Politicians may intend to resume conscription, so the United States is not free of conscription in laws. 88 countries lack conscription or its registration.
The United States House of Representatives introduces bills prefixed "H.R." The United States Senate introduces bills prefixed "S." Both are in Washington DC (District of Columbia). In the 108th Congress (2003/2004), the latest bill to repeal the Military Selective Service Act (H.R.487) received unfavorable Executive Comment on 26 March 2003, but the Universal National Service Act of 2003 (S.89 and H.R.163) intending to register men and women for conscription is not passed yet.
Subject: Reforming the Military Selective Service Act Text of message: FROM: [Name of the sender] [Postal address] [City, state and postal codes or foreign equivalents] [Country if not the United States] TO: [Name of a Representative] United States House of Representatives Washington DC 20515 United States OR [Name of a Senator] United States Senate Washington DC 20510 United States Dear Representative, OR Dear Senator,
I would like to present three proposals to reform the Military Selective Service Act as conscription is less useful and unregistered men over age 26 may be barred from certain benefits. Please support at least one of them.
Proposal 1: Repealing the Military Selective Service Act will end the registration with Selective Service and no one will be denied any benefits for not registering.
Proposal 2: Suspending the registration with Selective Service is an option if proposal 1 is not done. Bill H.R.1607 that did not pass the 107th Congress (2001/2002) would suspend the registration and stop denying benefits for not registering.
Proposal 3: Stopping denying benefits to overage non-registrants once some time, such as five years, have passed after age 26 is needed to stop permanent underclass if none of the above is done. Amending 50 USC App. 462(g)(2) to read something like the following may do it:
"(2) the person has attained age thirty-one (31) or shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the failure of the person to register was not a knowing and willful failure to register." (I propose adding the words "has attained age thirty-one (31) or".)
As 50 USC App. 462(d) prohibits criminal indictment once non-registrants reach age 31, denying benefits to non-registrants until age 31 should be enough. Overage non-registrants should not be penalized permanently.
I would appreciate an acknowledgement of this message, and I would like to know whether you support any of these three proposals or not. This issue is very important to me and to many other constituents in your district.
Thank you for your attention. Sincerely, [Name of the sender] [City and state of the sender or the foreign equivalents] [Country if not the United States]
Links in the United States Libertarian Party: Take Action! End the Selective Service! Protest the Draft Center on Conscience & War Conscientious Objectors and the Selective Service Act Time to Dismantle the Selective Service System The Con of Conscription International links Stop Conscription in Europe Now! (de) http://home.snafu.de/kdv/contentpages/initiativen.html