Monday.

[kyburg]

Considering the source again - wish like hell I had a Reuters link for this story - and some other, older data to compare it against:

The incarceration rate for veterans is 630 per 100,000, compared to 1,390 per 100,000 for nonveterans.

The study found that veterans in prison were older, more educated, more likely to have been married and more likely than nonveterans to be incarcerated for violent crimes or offenses against women or children. (Emphasis mine.)

If you're a veteran, and in the pokey - you're more than twice as likely to be there for a violent, sex-related offense against women or children than someone who didn't serve. And they don't know why - even though the trend is present also in military prisons.

But the important part is "I don't want people to come away from this thinking veterans are crazed sex offenders," Noonan said. "I want them to understand that veterans are less likely to be in prison in the first place." Given.

UH. If I was a good little girl, looking to keep herself out of trouble (because if something, uh, Happened, it would be my fault for being so gullible/stupid/etc.) - with this kind of information, I don't think I'd be in a hurry to be alone with a group of veterans. And I love how the default for "veteran in jail" is "male."

If that isn't sucktastic, I don't know what is. (Hey, anyone got the figures on the conversion rate of servicepeople who go into law enforcement after the finish their hitch with the military is?)

*sigh*

Comments

[musicalchaos.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know the actual numbers, I do however know from experience that the majority of the police officers and hopefuls that I've known do indeed have prior military experience. If memory serves, it actually counts as a bonus on the application around here.

[foogod.livejournal.com]

But the important part is "I don't want people to come away from this thinking veterans are crazed sex offenders," Noonan said. "I want them to understand that veterans are less likely to be in prison in the first place." Given.

Of course that statement is very deceptive, because the numbers in the article actually imply that that's exactly what people should think. Veterans in prison are indeed more likely to be sex offenders than non-veterans, to the extent that it isn't even balanced out by the lower incarceration numbers:

Veterans in prison (per 100,000): 630
Non-veterans in prison (per 100,000): 1390

Number of veteran sex offenders: 630 x 23% = 145
Number of non-veteran sex offenders: 1390 x 9% = 125

It says something very significant when the number of sex offenders is still more even when the other group has over twice as many total people in it. If nothing else, it says that the sex-offender number is more significant than the total-in-prison number, and should be the one people are paying attention to.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

*nods* Exactly.

But - don't look at that. Look over here - SHINY SHINY!

[moropus.livejournal.com]

"And I love how the default for "veteran in jail" is "male.""

This is because the overwhelming majority of veterans are male. I am a veteran. Currently, there might be 15-20% women on active duty. In 1984, when I first enlisted, there were time when I could go all day without seeing another woman.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Older brother taught the first group of women allowed to serve, back in 1971 when he was in the Coast Guard. *nods* You've got a point, but let me add this little filip -

Where I work, I'm one of the few women in the whole department - I think we currently have four out of a staff of 40 in the unit (more of our department is upstairs, so not counting them). I can go most of my day without laying eyes on them either. But my job is not considered "male" by default - and it's lazy work to do it anywhere. The research shows the practice is harmful - even at the most subtle levels. (There are also laws against it in the workplace and we get "trained" every year on it.)

So I'm a bit sensitive to profiling - of any kind.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

No, wait. That would have been 1975....