A Reply to Dykstra's "Evident Bias in 'Crimes Committed by U.S. Soldiers in Europe, 1945-1946'"

Abstract

We are pleased to see our research receiving early and close attention by Dykstra. In reading his commentary, we now realize that certain parts of our presentation appear to have been confusing, leading Dykstra to misconstrue our historical sources, our descriptive statistics, our estimates of unreported crimes-the so-called "dark number"-and finally our conclusions. Accordingly, we use this opportunity to clarify our presentation. Dykstra's primary contention is that we draw what he believes to be an unfounded parallel between the crimes of Soviet and U.S. soldiers in Europe during and after World War II. He goes so far as to say that our analysis is "reminiscent of the Nazi propaganda claim that the advancing U.S. troops were 'gangsters.'" Such invective does not add to respectful scholarly debate. Be that as it may, we do not attempt to equate Soviet and U.S. crimes. Instead, we present new quantitative data that suggest a higher rate of U.S.-perpetrated crime than previously thought. The result, we argue, should be a re-appraisal of U.S. soldiers' behavior that penetrates further than the popular narrative that contrasts a peaceful West with a disorderly East.