In this study, we used data from national surveys of U.S. veterans and nonveterans to investigate whether military service increased risk for incarceration compared to non-veteran peers. White veterans aged thirty-five to fifty-four (early years of the All Volunteer Force and the Vietnam era) were at higher risk for incarceration than white nonveterans. Black and Hispanic veterans of these eras were generally at lower risk of incarceration than age-and race-matched nonveterans. For all racial/ethnic groups, the risk of incarceration among veterans compared to nonveterans declined among those who served in the later years of the implementation of the All Volunteer Force. These findings may reflect the disadvantaged backgrounds of recruits during the early implementation of the All Volunteer Force, from 1973 to 1980, and the improved quality of personnel recruited after 1980. Among all males, the risk of incarceration was not elevated among Vietnam-era and World War II veterans.
Josefina Card , Lives after Vietnam: The Personal Impact of Military Service ( Toronto: Lexington Books , 1983); Arthur Engendorf, Charles Kadushin, Robert Laufer, George Rothbart, and Lee Sloan, Legacies of Vietnam: Comparative Adjustment of Veterans and Their Peers (New York: The Center for Policy Research, Inc., 1981); Richard A. Kulka, William E. Schlenger, John A. Fairbank, Richard L. Hough, B. Kathleen Jordan, Charles R. Marmar, and Daniel S. Weiss, Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation: Report of Findings from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1990); Barry J. Levin and David O. Ferrier, Defending the Vietnam Combat Veteran (Los Angeles: Vietnam Veterans Legal Assistance Project, 1989).
2.
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3.
Michael J. Boivin , “Forgotten Warriors: An Evaluation of the Emotional Well-being of Presently Incarcerated Vietnam Veterans,”Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs113, 1 (1987): 109–125 ; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam; Kulka et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation; Holly Prigerson, Paul Maciejewski, and Robert Rosenheck, “Combat Trauma: Trauma with the Highest Risk of Delayed Onset and Unresolved Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, Unemployment and Abuse Among Men,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 198, 3 (2001): 99–108; Paul Starr, James Henry, and Raymond Bonner, Discarded Army: Veterans after Vietnam (New York: Charterhouse, 1973).
4.
Card , Lives after Vietnam; Kulka et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation; Levin and Ferrier, Defending the Vietnam Combat Veteran; J. M. Stellman, S. D. Stellman, and J. F. Sommer, “Social and Behavioral Consequences of the Vietnam Experience among American Legionnaires,” Environmental Research 47, 2 (1988): 129–49.
5.
Tim A. Bullman and Han K. Kang , “The Risk of Suicide among Wounded Vietnam Veterans,”American Journal of Public Health86, 5 (1996): 662–667 ; Al Fontana and Robert Rosenheck, “Attempted Suicide among Vietnam Theater Veterans: A Causal Model of Etiology in a Community Sample,” American Journal of Psychiatry 152, 6 (1994): 102–9; Michael T. Lambert and Robert D. Fowler, “Suicide Risk Factors among Veterans: Risk Management in the Changing Culture of the Department of Veterans Affairs,” Journal of Mental Health Administration 24, 3 (1997): 350–58; Starr, Henry, and Bonner, Discarded Army.
6.
Gail Gamache , Robert Rosenheck , and Richard Tessler , “Military Discharge Status of Homeless Veterans with Mental Illness,”Military Medicine165, 11 (2000): 803–808 ; Gail Gamache, Robert Rosenheck, and Richard Tessler, “The Proportion of Veterans among Homeless Men: A Decade Later,” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 36, 10 (2001): 481–85; Gail Gamache, Robert Rosenheck, and Richard Tessler, “Overrepresentation of Women Veterans among Homeless Women,” American Journal of Public Health 93, 7 (2003): 1132–36; Robert Rosenheck and Al Fontana, “A Model of Homelessness among Male Veterans of the Vietnam Generation,” American Journal of Psychiatry 151, 3 (1994): 421–27; Robert Rosenheck, Catherine Leda, Linda Frisman, Julie Lam, and An-Me Chung. “Homeless Veterans,” in Homelessness in America, ed. Jim Baumohl (Phoenix: Oryx, 1996), 97–108.
7.
Adela Beckerman and Leonard Fontana , “Vietnam Veterans and the Criminal Justice System,”Criminal Justice and Behavior16, 4 (1989): 412–428 ; Boivin, “Forgotten Warriors”; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam; Levin and Ferrier, Defending the Vietnam Combat Veteran; Christopher Mumola, Veterans in Prison or Jail, Bureau of Justice Statistics: Special Report (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, 2000).
8.
Boivin , “Forgotten Warriors”; James McGuire, Robert A. Rosenheck, and Wesley J. Kasprow, “Health Status, Service Use, and Costs among Veterans Receiving Outreach Services in Jail or Community Settings,”Psychiatric Services54, 2 (2003): 201–207 ; Bruce Pentland and James Dwyer, “Incarcerated Viet Nam Veterans,” in The Trauma of War: Stress and Recovery in Viet Nam Veterans,ed. Stephen M. Sonnenberg, Arthur S. Blank, and John A. Talbott (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1985), 403–16; Andrew J. Saxon, Tania M. Davis, Kevin L. Sloan, Katherine M. McKnight, Miles E. McFall, and Daniel R. Kivlahan, “Trauma Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Associated Problems among Incarcerated Veterans,” Psychiatric Services 52, 7 (2001): 959–64; Donna M. Shaw, Cynthia M. Churchill, Russell Noyes, and Paul L. Loeffelhoz, “Criminal Behavior and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Vietnam Veterans,” Comprehensive Psychiatry 28, 5 (1987): 403–11.
9.
Saxon et al., “Trauma Symptoms”; Mumola, Veterans in Prison or Jail.
10.
Boivin , “Forgotten Warriors”; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam.
11.
Ghislaine Boulanger , “Violence and Vietnam Veterans,” in The Vietnam Veteran Redefined: Fact and Fiction, ed. Ghislaine Boulanger and Charles Kadushin ( Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum , 1986), 79–90; Kulka et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam.
12.
Alan Fontana and Robert A. Rosenheck , “The Role of War-Zone Trauma and PTSD in the Etiology of Antisocial Behavior,”Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease193, 3 (2005): 203–209 .
13.
Boivin , “Forgotten Warriors”; Bruce Pentland and Ray Scurfield, “Inreach Counseling and Advocacy with Veterans in Prison,”Federal Probation46, 1 (1982): 21–28 .
14.
Boivin , “Forgotten Warriors”; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam; Kulka et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation; Starr, Henry, and Bonner, Discarded Army; Willard Waller, The Veteran Comes Back (New York: Dryden, 1944); Dixon Wector, When Johnny Comes Marching Home (Cambridge, MA: Riverside, 1944).
15.
Boivin , “Forgotten Warriors”; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam; Pentland et al., “Inreach Counseling”; Waller, The Veteran Comes Back; Wector, When Johnny Comes Marching Home.
16.
Card , Lives after Vietnam; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam; Kulka et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation; Pentland et al., “Inreach Counseling”.
17.
Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam; Pentland and Scurfield, “Inreach Counseling”; Starr, Henry, and Bonner, Discarded Army.
18.
Boivin , “Forgotten Warriors”; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam; Arthur Engendorf, “The Postwar Healing of Vietnam Veterans: Recent Research,” Hospital and Community Psychiatry 33, 11 (1982): 901–8; David R. Johnson, Hader Lubin, Robert Rosenheck, Alan Fontana, Steven Southwick, and Dennis Charney, “The Impact of the Homecoming Reception on the Development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The West Haven Homecoming Stress Scale (WHHSS),” Journal of Traumatic Stress 10, 2 (1997): 259–77; Levin and Ferrier, Defending the Vietnam Combat Veteran; Pentland and Scurfield, “Inreach Counseling”; Starr, Henry, and Bonner, Discarded Army.
19.
Starr et al., Discarded Army.
20.
Card , Lives after Vietnam; Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam.
21.
Kulka et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation.
22.
Card , Lives after Vietnam.
23.
Beckerman and Fontana , “Vietnam Veterans and the Criminal Justice System.”
24.
Mumola , Veterans in Prison or Jail.
25.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics , 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities ( Department of Justice , 2000), http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/home.html (accessed January 10, 2005).
26.
U.S. Census Department , Census 2000 Long Form (Sample) Data; Special Tabulations Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau in Response to Data Requests Submitted by the Office of the Actuary, Department of Veterans Affairs ( U.S. Census Department , 2003), www.census.gov/housing/userdata (accessed January 10, 2005).
27.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics , 1997 Survey of Inmates.
Sue Berryman , Who Serves? The Persistent Myth of the Underclass Army ( Boulder, CO: Westview , 1988); Morris Janowitz, “The All-volunteer Military as a Socio-political Problem,” Social Problems 22 (February 1975): 432–49; Gwyn Harris-Jenkins and Charles C. Moskos, “Armed Forces and Society,” Current Sociology 29, 3 (1981): 1–76.
31.
Edwin Dorn , “Sustaining the All-Volunteer Forces,” in Professionals in the Front Line: Two Decades of the All Volunteer Force, ed. J. Eric Fredland , Curtis Gilroy , Roger D. Little , and W. S. Sellman ( London: Brassey's , 1996): 3–22; Mark Eitelberg, “The All-Volunteer Force after Twenty Years,” in Professionals in the Front Line: Two Decades of the All Volunteer Force, ed. J. Eric Fredland, Curtis Gilroy, Roger D. Little, and W. S. Sellman (London: Brassey's, 1996): 66–98; Paul F. Hogan, Curtis J. Simon, and John T. Warner, “Sustaining the Force in an Era of Transformation,” in The All Volunteer Force: Thirty Years of Service, ed. Barbara A. Bicksler, Curtis L. Gilroy, and John T. Warner (Washington, DC: Brassey's, 2004): 57–89; John P. White, “Reflections on Managing the All-Volunteer Force: Past and Future,” in The All Volunteer Force: Thirty Years of Service, ed. Barbara A. Bicksler, Curtis L. Gilroy, and John T. Warner (Washington, DC: Brassey's, 2004): 33–44.
32.
Richard V. Cooper , Military Manpower and the All-Volunteer Force ( Santa Monica, CA: RAND , 1977); Chongsoo Kim, Gilbert Nestel, Robert L. Phillips, and Michael E. Borous, National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Labor Market Experience: Military Studies (Columbus, OH: Center for Human Resources Research, Ohio State University, 1980); Population Representation in the Military Service: Fiscal Year 1989 (Washington DC: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1990).
33.
Eitelberg , “The All-Volunteer Force”; Mark J. Eitelberg, Janice H. Laurence, Brian K. Waters, and Linda S. Perlman, Screening for Service: Aptitude and Education Criteria for Military Entry ( Washington, DC: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense , 1984); Janice Laurence, Peter F. Ramsberger, and Monica Gribben, Effects of Military Experience on the Post-service Lives of Low-Aptitude Recruits: Project 100,000 and the ASVAB Misnorming (Alexandria, VA: Human Resources Research Organization, 1989).
34.
Eitelberg , “The All-Volunteer Force”.
35.
Don Cahalan , Ian A. Cisn , G. L. Gardner , and G. C. Smith , Drinking Practices and Problems in the U.S. Army ( Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Army , 1972); Robert M. Bray, M. A. Marsden, M. A., L. L. Guess, S. C. Wheeless, and D. K. Pate, 1985 Worldwide Survey of Alcohol and Nonmedical Drug Use among Military Personnel (Research Triangle Park, NC: Research Triangle Institute, 1986); John M. Polich, “Epidemiology of Alcohol Abuse in Military and Civilian Populations,” American Journal of Public Health 71, 10 (1981): 1125–32.
36.
Robert Rosenheck , Linda Frisman , and An-Me Chung . “The Proportion of Veterans among Homeless Men,”American Journal of Public Health84, 3 (1984): 466–469 .
37.
Rosenheck, Frisman , and Chung , “The Proportion of Veterans”.
38.
Kulka et al., Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation.
39.
Engendorf et al., Legacies of Vietnam.
40.
Ibid.
41.
Ibid.
42.
Ibid.
43.
Ibid.
44.
Ibid.
45.
Richard T. Cooney , Mady W. Segal , David R. Segal , and William W. Falk , “Racial Differences in the Impact of Military Service on the Socioeconomic Status of Women Veterans,”Armed Forces & Society30, 1 (2003): 53–75 ; Robert L. Phillips, Paul J. Andrisani, Thomas N. Daymont, and Curtis L. Gilroy, “The Economic Returns to Military Service: Race-Ethnic Differences,” Social Science Quarterly 73, 2 (1992): 340–59; Aline Q. Quester and Curtis L. Gilroy, “Women and Minorities in America's Volunteer Military,” Contemporary Economic Policy 20, 2 (2002): 111–21.
46.
Cooney et al., “Racial Differences”; Phillips et al., “The Economic Returns to Military Service”; Jay Treachman and Lucky M. Tedrowm, “Wages, Earnings, and Occupational Status: Did World War II Veterans Receive a Premium?,”Social Science Research33, 4 (2004): 581–605 .
47.
Richard Fernandez , “Social Representation in the Military: A Reassessment,” in Professionals on the Front Line: Two Decades of the All-Volunteer Force, ed. J. Eric Fredland , Curtis Gilroy , Roger Little , and W. S. Sellman ( London: Brassey's , 1996): 226–245.
48.
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness , The Population Representation in the Military Services ( Washington, DC: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness , 2004).
49.
Dorn , “Sustaining the All-Volunteer Forces”; Eitelberg, “The All-Volunteer Force after Twenty Years,” 66–98; Hogan, Simon, and Warner, “Sustaining the Force,” 57–89; John P. White, “Reflections on Managing the All-Volunteer Force: Past and Future,” in The All-Volunteer Force: Thirty Years of Service, ed. Barbara A. Bicksler, Curtis Gilroy, and John Warner (Washington, DC: Brassey's, 2004): 33–44; Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, The Population Representation in the Military Services.
50.
Jerald Bachman , Peter Freedman-Doan , Patrick O'Malley , Lloyd Johnston , and David Segal , “Changing Patterns of Drug Use among U.S. Military Recruits before and after Enlistment,”American Journal of Public Health89, 5 (1999): 672–677 .
51.
Dorn , “Sustaining the All-Volunteer Forces”; Eitelberg, “The All-Volunteer Force after Twenty Years”; Fernandez, “Social Representation in the Military”; Hogan, Simon, and Warner, “Sustaining the Force”; Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, The Population Representation in the Military Services.
52.
Beckerman and Fontana , “Vietnam Veterans and the Criminal Justice System”.
