Prosecutions and Conviction Rates

VII.      Prosecutions and Conviction Rates

In the late 60s and early 70s, prosecutors didn’t have the time or energy to pursue cases against draft violators. In the Washington D.C., prosecutors dropped 99 percent of all draft offender cases between 1967 and 1970. The national average of dropped cases topped out at 89 percent. Only the most egregious violations against the Selective Service Act were pursued.[1] After 1970, most of the accused could avoid prison and service in the military if they hired a decent attorney.

In the course of the war, the Selective Service accused more than 210,000 men of draft evasion. These cases were sent to the Justice Department, but in the end, a mere 4% were convicted and 1.5% went to prison.[2] From1965 to 1975, 22,467 men were indicted for draft law violations.[3] Only 8,800 were arrested and charged with evading the draft.[4] By the middle of 1965, 380 men were prosecuted because they refused to be inducted into the military.[5] In 1968, three tumultuous years later, the number prosecuted jumped to 3,305.[6] At the end of 1969, 33,960 were accused of violating the draft.[7] 

In previous wars, most defendants accused of violating the Selective Service Act were found guilty.[8] In 1967, alleged violators were convicted at a rate of 75%; 89% were sent to jail, with an average sentence of 32 months.[9] By 1970, 36% of defendants were found guilty and by 1975, less than 17% of all draft offenders were convicted.[10] By 1975, fewer than 9% of defendants went to prison and the average stay was 14.5 months, less than half of what it had been 8 years earlier.[11] Near the end of the war, lengthy prison terms were rare. Often the parole board reduced the terms of those sentenced to less than half of what was originally imposed.[12]

By 1972, 12 percent of all inductees into the military were indicted for draft violations. In World War I this number was 0.015 percent and in World War II it was 0.012 percent.[13] As support for the war dwindled, so did the numbers of men who were punished for resisting the military efforts in Southeast Asia.

In 1970, 25 percent of all inductees were given conscientious objector status. By 1971, more than 42 percent of those who rejected induction qualified. By 1972, more men were exempted from the draft than were inducted into the United States military.[14]

More than 250,000 young men never registered for the draft.[15] 110,000 burned draft cards but were never charged. 210,000 draft violation cases were sent to the Justice Department over the course of the war. Only 25,000 were indicted, 10,000 went to trial, and 8,800 were determined to be guilty, but only 3,275 went to prison.[16] In other areas of criminal law, as many as 30 to 40% of accused offenders are convicted.[17] Only 33 were charged with burning draft cards despite more than 100,000 accused of doing so. 10 people were charged with refusing to pay taxes because of their anti-war beliefs.[18]

In 1967, 89% of all convicted draft offenders received prison sentences. By 1974, only 9% were sent to prison. Many were given short periods of probation instead.[19] Courts, judges, and lawyers were called to serve in a different capacity during the Vietnam War. They were needed to determine whether young men who violated the draft should go to jail. Courts were much more willing to convict and imprison violators at the start of the war than they were at the end.

[1] Ibid, 81

[2] Zinn, Howard. 2001. A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present. New York: Harper Collins, pg. 3

[3] Kohn, Steven M. 1986. Jailed for Peace: The History of American Draft Law Violators, 1658-1985. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Pg. 92

[4] Baskir, Lawrence M. and William A. Strauss. 1977. Reconciliation after Vietnam: A Program for Relief for Vietnam Era Draft and Military Offenders. A Report of the Vietnam Offender Study. Center for Civil Rights. University of Notre Dame. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. Pg. 2

[5] Baskir, Lawrence M. and William A. Strauss. 1977. Reconciliation after Vietnam: A Program for Relief for Vietnam Era Draft and Military Offenders. A Report of the Vietnam Offender Study. Center for Civil Rights. University of Notre Dame. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. Pg. 2

[6] Ibid

[7] Ibid

[8] Kohn, Steven M. 1986. Jailed for Peace: The History of American Draft Law Violators, 1658-1985. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Pg. 87.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid, 89.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Brock, Peter. 2004.‘These Strange Criminals’: An Anthology of Prison Memoirs by Conscientious Objectors from the Great War to the Cold War. Toronto, CA: University of Toronto Press. Pg. 408.

[13] Kohn, Steven M. 1986. Jailed for Peace: The History of American Draft Law Violators, 1658-1985. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 92

[14]Ibid

[15] Baskir, Lawrence M. and William A. Strauss. 1977. Reconciliation after Vietnam: A Program for Relief for Vietnam Era Draft and Military Offenders. A Report of the Vietnam Offender Study. Center for Civil Rights. University of Notre Dame. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. Pg. 15

[16] Ibid

[17] Ibid, 83

[18] Ibid, 16

[19] Baskir, Lawrence M. and William A. Strauss. 1977. Reconciliation after Vietnam: A Program for Relief for Vietnam Era Draft and Military Offenders. A Report of the Vietnam Offender Study. Center for Civil Rights. University of Notre Dame. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. Pg. 84