SBAND Seminar Materials 2013 Free Ethics: Echoes of War The Combat Veteran | Page 12

III. Links
 Between
 Combat
 Trauma
 and
 Criminal
 Behavior

A. Historic
 Post-­?War
 Spikes
 in
 Veteran-­?Committed
 Crimes

Historic
 research
 reveals
 a
 pattern
 of
 veteran-­?committed
 crime
 waves
 following
  every
 major
 conflict.

 Though
 scientific
 studies
 have
 only
 recently
 been
 conducted
 on
 this
  issue,
 a
 look
 back
 at
 history
 through
 this
 lens
 clearly
 reveals
 this
 pattern.

 It
 was,
 for
  instance,
 largely
 Civil
 War
 veterans
 who
 put
 the
 “wild”
 in
 the
 “wild
 west.”

  Following
 the
 American
 Revolutionary
 War,
 one
 author
 noted
 a
 marked
 increase
 in
  crime
 that
 caused
 many
 states
 to
 institute
 new
 laws
 and
 penalties
 in
 response.40

 A
  Revolutionary
 veteran,
 describing
 conditions
 in
 South
 Carolina
 after
 the
 war,
 wrote,
  “highway
 robbery
 was
 a
 common
 occurrence,
 and
 horse-­?stealing
 so
 frequent
 that
 the
  Legislature
 made
 it
 a
 crime
 punishable
 with
 death.”41
  Studies
 conducted
 after
 the
 Civil
 War,
 World
 War
 I
 and
 World
 War
 II
 found
 a
  disproportionate
 number
 of
 veterans
 in
 the
 criminal
 justice
 system.

 Following
 the
 Civil
  War
 a
 great
 wave
 in
 crime
 and
 disorder
 was
 documented.42

 One
 prison
 in
 Pennsylvania
  reported
 a
 large
 influx
 of
 prisoners
 in
 the
 last
 three
 months
 of
 1865,
 “most
 in
 poor
 physical
  condition,
 and
 nine-­?tenths
 incapacitated
 and
 demoralized
 by
 the
 war.”43

 In
 1866
 they
  reported
 an
 unprecedented
 influx,
 three-­?fourths
 of
 whom
 had
 fought
 in
 the
 war
 and
 were
  “shattered”
 by
 their
 experiences.44

 Nationwide,
 in
 1866
 two-­?thirds
 of
 all
 commitments
 to
  state
 prisons
 in
 northern
 states
 were
 men
 who
 had
 seen
 service
 in
 the
 war.45
  A
 similar
 pattern
 of
 veteran-­?committed
 crimes
 was
 noted
 in
 Europe
 following
 WWI.

  In
 1920,
 one
 English
 writer
 observed:

40 41

 ALLAN
 NEVINS,
 THE
 AMERICAN
 STATES
 DURING
 AND
 AFTER
 THE
 REVOLUTION,
 1775-­?1789
 454
 (1924).

 Id.
 (citing
 JOSEPH
 JOHNSON,
 TRADITIONS
 AND
 REMINISCENCES
 400
 (1851)).
  42
 Edith
 Abbott,
 Crime
 and
 the
 War,
 9
 J.
 AM.
 INST.
 CRIM.
 L
 &
 CRIMINOLOGY
 41
 (1918).

  43
 Id.
 at
 43.
  44
 Id.
  45
 E.C.
 Wines
 &
 Theodore
 Dwight,
 The
 Reformation
 of
 Prison
 Discipline,
 105
 N.
 AM.
 REV.,
 580?81
 (1867),
 available
 at
  http://books.google.com/books?id=Kn8FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP7&lpg=PP7&dq=Ticknor+and+Fields,+The+North+Amer ican+Review,+Boston,+Vol.+CV,+1867&source=bl&ots=5JWYeUkEQ4&sig=01A0d6Lbo61dQYVxwFXhEvCXwYc&hl=e n&sa=X&ei=_0SDT-­? S8Boqk8AST6PjsBw&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Ticknor%20and%20Fields%2C%20The%20North%20Amer ican%20Review%2C%20Boston%2C%20Vol.%20CV%2C%201867&f=false.

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