In a blow to sinister stereotypes that returning war veterans are more likely to commit crimes than the average citizen, the number of incarcerated military veterans has continued to fall. According to the report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics on Monday, counts and rates of veterans in state and federal prison, as well as local jail, declined from 203,000 in 2004 to 181,500 in 2011-12. This is the first government report to include substantial numbers of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in its findings.
Veterans, the recent data show, are less likely to be imprisoned than non-veterans – with incarceration rates of 855 per 100,000 and 968 per 100,000, respectively. In the two years under study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, veterans only accounted for up to 8 percent of inmates in state and federal prisons and local jails. Of those locked up, 99 percent were male.
In 1978, when the Bureau of Justice Statistics began to track the number of imprisoned veterans, around 24 percent of prisoners were veterans. Ever since then veteran incarceration rates have fallen. NPR reported that by 1998 veterans had the same rates as those who never served in the military. Now they've declined further still.
Some interesting differences between veteran and non-veteran populations exist. Hispanic and non-Hispanic black inmates made up a dramatically smaller percentage of incarcerated veterans – 38 percent in prison and 44 percent in jail – compared to the same demographics among non-veterans – 63 percent in prison and 59 percent in jail. A greater percentage of veterans, however, were sentenced for violent offenses.
The falling population of veterans in prison accords with national trends. World War II and Korea veterans – in their 80s and 90s – aren't committing much crime, and many Vietnam veterans in their 70s are in the same low-crime boat. Not only that, but increased veteran services, as well as high employment figures, mean that a veteran returning to his life after service has plenty of options.