NCJ Number
131287
Date Published
Unknown
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Eighty questionnaires were distributed to veterans incarcerated at the North Central Corrections Institution in Gardner, Massachusetts to identify Vietnam era veterans as well as the general veterans population by era.
Abstract
Of the 41 veterans responding to the questionnaire, 41.4 percent were Vietnam era veterans but did not serve in the war zone, 32.3 percent served during periods other than the Vietnam era of 1964-1975, 24.2 percent actually served in Vietnam, and 2 percent served during the Korean War. Twenty-one of the veterans (51 percent) were incarcerated for crimes against the person, 3 (7 percent) for sex-related crimes, 13 (32 percent) for property violations, 8 (20 percent) for drug-related charges, and 1 (2 percent) failed to respond. On the basis of responses to the questionnaire, for the most part Vietnam veterans are incarcerated for their first offense but serving a longer sentence than veterans of another era. Several recommendations are proposed and include the need to conduct a more complete study to identify the makeup of the overall veterans' population of the Massachusetts corrections systems. 2 figures, 25 tables, 6 appendixes, 1 note, and 2 references