Law & order

Black soldiers face US military justice more often than whites, study finds

Black airmen, soldiers, sailors and marines are more likely to face courts martial or other forms of military justice than their white peers, despite equalizing factors like detailed checks of troops’ criminal records, a rights group report based on DoD data found.

The alarming finding appeared in a report by ‘Protect Our Defenders’ (POD), an advocacy group rendering support to victims of sexual assault and military justice in the armed forces. 

Entitled ‘Racial Disparities in Military Justice’, the paper is based upon an analysis of Department of Defense data spanning a decade from 2005 to 2015 and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

It emphasizes that “for every year reported and across all service branches, black service members were substantially more likely than white service members to face military justice or disciplinary action.”

The disparity ratio suggests a latent bias among military justice officers as black soldiers were the most stigmatized group in the military.