US military veterans are significantly more likely than other Americans to be jailed at least once in their lives. Thanks to mass incarceration, the number of vets in prison doubled between the end of the Vietnam War and 9/11. How did [180,000 vets] end up in a US prison population now numbering more than 1.2 million? Overall, about one-third of all veterans, who number nineteen million, report having been arrested and booked into jail at least once in their lives, as compared to less than one-fifth of the rest of the population. When they end up incarcerated, veterans receive longer sentences than nonveterans, despite the good work of a national network of Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs). This "hybrid drug and mental health treatment system" offers access to counseling services, opportunities for housing, education and job employment, and disability benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But the effectiveness of their "reparative justice" approach varies from state to state and is not available to vets charged with violent crimes, which disqualifies many defendants. More than 300,000 veterans, who served at home and abroad, since 9/11 also received less than "honorable" discharges. For the DOD, despite its ample $884 billion budget, getting rid of soldiers whose performance is adversely affected by PTSD, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), military sexual trauma (MST), drug or alcohol abuse is easier, quicker, and cheaper than treating them.
Latest
Latest News
Each news summary is created according to strict standards. Here's how we do it.
Each summary is created using a consistent editorial procedure. The target length is approximately 16 lines of 11-point Arial text in a 650-pixel-wide column. Up to 25% of a summary may be set in bold to emphasize the most important ideas. Summaries are composed of verbatim excerpts presented in the same sequence as they appear in the original news source, with very minor editorial additions. Where material has been omitted between excerpts, the omission is indicated with ellipses (...). Any words added by an editor for clarity or context appear in [brackets]. Our original news editor was Fred Burks. Tod Fletcher edited most summaries from 2007 through 2014, and Mark Bailey has served as news editor since 2014.