During the First World War Britain’s criminals were mobilized in much the same way as the rest of society. Courts allowed defendants to avoid prison if they enlisted, while borstal boys, and later adult prisoners, were also granted early release. Although enlistment offered a chance for rehabilitation, criminals were also desirable due to their violent nature, and enlisting them reduced the cost of imprisonment at a time of straitened economic circumstances. How the war was interpreted and later remembered left little room for the inclusion of criminals, which effectively removed them from the collective narrative.

中文翻译：

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“可能成为好士兵”：在第一次世界大战期间动员英国的犯罪人口

在第一次世界大战期间，英国的罪犯以与社会其他人大致相同的方式被动员起来。法院允许被告入伍后避免入狱，而男孩和后来的成年囚犯也被准予提前释放。尽管入伍提供了改过自新的机会，但犯罪分子因其暴力性质而受到欢迎，在经济拮据的情况下，入伍可以降低监禁成本。战争是如何被解释和后来被记住的，这几乎没有给罪犯留下空间，这实际上将他们从集体叙事中剔除。