One-tenth of prisoners currently on death row are military veterans, according to a new report released on the eve of Veterans Day.
Many of these veterans have post-traumatic stress disorder, something that was not factored into their sentences, the new report by the Death Penalty Information Center found.
The death penalty is being used less in the United States; so far this year, only 25 people have been executed, which could be the lowest number in nearly 25 years. But of the country’s population of more than 3,000 death-row inmates, about 300 have served in the military.
The Death Penalty Information Center argues that a person’s military service should be factored into a possible sentence, especially if the person has shown signs of trauma and could be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
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According to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, four out of five Vietnam veterans reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder 20-25 years after the war. In addition, more than 300,000 veterans form the Afghanistan and Iran wars have post-traumatic stress disorder, even though only about half have received treatment in the past year.
“At a time in which the death penalty is being imposed less and less, it is disturbing that so many veterans who were mentally and emotionally scarred while serving their country are now facing execution,” Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said in a statement.
The first person executed in the U.S. this year was Andrew Brannan, a Vietnam veteran who killed a Georgia sheriff’s deputy in 1998. He argued that he had developed post-traumatic stress disorder after his experiences in combat.
In Brannan’s case, like in many others, the veterans “have experienced trauma that few others in society have ever encountered — trauma that may have played a role in their committing serious crimes,” and thus trauma that should be factored into their sentences, the report argues.
For many of the veterans on death row, their military service and any possible mental illnesses “were barely touched on as their lives were being weighed by judges and juries,” the report noted. “Even today, there are veterans on death row with PTSD that was unexplored at their trial or undervalued for its pernicious effects.”
The report suggested interim steps to ensure that the mental stability of the person on trial be examined whenever capital charges are brought against a military veteran.
“[A]ll parties need to be aware not only of the defendant’s military status, but also of conditions like PTSD that could make a difference in the ultimate punishment applied,” the report concluded.
