Incarcerated Veterans
In May 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a special report on incarcerated veterans. The following are highlights of the report, “Veterans in State and Federal Prison, 2004,” which assessed data based on personal interviews conducted in 2004:

Numbers and profiles

  • There were an estimated 140,000 veterans held in state and federal prisons. State prisons held 127,500 of these veterans, and federal prisons held 12,500.
  • Male veterans were half as likely as other men to be held in prison (630 prisoners per 100,000 veterans, compared to 1,390 prisoners per 100,000 non-veteran U.S. residents). This gap had been increasing since the 1980s.
  • Veterans in both state and federal prison were almost exclusively male (99 percent).
  • The median age (45) of veterans in state prison was 12 years older than that of non-veterans (33). Non-veteran inmates (55 percent) were nearly four times more likely than veterans (14 percent) to be under the age of 35.
  • Veterans were much better educated than other prisoners. Nearly all veterans in state prison (91 percent) reported at least a high school diploma or GED, while an estimated 40 percent of non-veterans lacked either.

Military backgrounds

  • The U.S. Army accounted for 46 percent of veterans living in the United States but 56 percent of veterans in state prison.
  • In 2004, the percentage of state prisoners who reported prior military service in the U.S. Armed Forces (10 percent) was half of the level reported in 1986 (20 percent).
  • Most state prison veterans (54 percent) reported service during a wartime era, while 20 percent saw combat duty. In federal prison two-thirds of veterans had served during wartime, and a quarter had seen combat.
  • Six in 10 incarcerated veterans received an honorable discharge.

Convictions and sentencing

  • Veterans had shorter criminal histories than non-veterans in state prison.
  • Veterans reported longer average sentences than non-veterans, regardless of offense type.
  • Over half of veterans (57 percent) were serving time for violent offenses, compared to 47 percent of non-veterans.
  • Nearly one in four veterans in state prison were sex offenders, compared to one in 10 non-veterans.
  • Veterans were more likely than other violent offenders in state prison to have victimized females and minors.
  • More than a third of veterans in state prison had maximum sentences of at least 20 years, life or death.
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