Forgotten Service, Lasting Wounds: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty

Executive Summary

Forgotten Service, Lasting Wounds

  • Though the Supreme Court has rec­og­nized the impor­tance of mil­i­tary ser­vice in cap­i­tal mit­i­ga­tion, the legal sys­tem has not always ensured this in prac­tice. Many vet­er­ans have been exe­cut­ed with­out a jury ever hear­ing mean­ing­ful infor­ma­tion about their ser­vice. According to best prac­tices, a cap­i­tal defendant’s mil­i­tary ser­vice is an essen­tial part of their sto­ry for a jury to consider.

  • While most mil­i­tary vet­er­ans nev­er com­mit crimes fol­low­ing their ser­vice, data con­firm a trag­ic ​“bat­tle­field-to-prison” pipeline for a sub­stan­tial minor­i­ty. Jeffrey Hutchinson, exe­cut­ed this year in Florida, was one of many who suf­fered from the phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal haz­ards of mil­i­tary ser­vice, includ­ing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), trau­mat­ic brain injury (TBI), and neu­ro­tox­in expo­sure. According to the Council on Criminal Justice, these con­di­tions are ​“sig­nif­i­cant­ly asso­ci­at­ed with a greater like­li­hood of crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem involve­ment among veterans.” 

  • At least 226 mil­i­tary vet­er­ans have been exe­cut­ed—14% of all peo­ple exe­cut­ed in the mod­ern era (1972-present).

  • 2025 is among the dead­liest years for vet­er­ans on death row. Seven vet­er­ans have been exe­cut­ed and three more are sched­uled for exe­cu­tion, rep­re­sent­ing 22% of all peo­ple exe­cut­ed or under war­rant this year. 

  • Veterans are over­rep­re­sent­ed on death rows across the US. About 200 vet­er­ans remain on death row—10% of peo­ple fac­ing exe­cu­tion today, while just 6% of the pub­lic are veterans.

  • The pat­tern of sen­tenc­ing vet­er­ans to death is wide­spread: 42 states, the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, and the mil­i­tary have sen­tenced 807 vet­er­ans to death since 1972.

  • Our coun­try has sen­tenced to death vet­er­ans from every major con­flict since World War II, who served in every branch of the armed forces, and held every rank from pri­vate to colonel.

  • Florida is an out­lier. The state has sen­tenced at least 117 vet­er­ans to death — more than any oth­er state — account­ing for near­ly 15% of the total. In the past five years, no state has sen­tenced more than one vet­er­an to death, except Florida, which has sen­tenced five. Florida has exe­cut­ed five vet­er­ans in 2025, draw­ing sharp crit­i­cism from vet­er­an advo­ca­cy groups, and has sched­uled the exe­cu­tion of two more vet­er­ans short­ly after Veterans Day. Florida con­duct­ed over two-thirds of the exe­cu­tions and sched­uled exe­cu­tions of vet­er­ans in 2025.

  • The vast major­i­ty (66%) of death-sen­tenced vet­er­ans who served in active com­bat served in Vietnam. A third of these indi­vid­u­als have been exe­cut­ed. The Vietnam War impacts cap­i­tal cas­es to this day: 75-year-old Vietnam vet­er­an Joseph Ables was sen­tenced to death this year, 79-year-old Vietnam vet­er­an Richard Jordan was exe­cut­ed, and 20 oth­ers remain on death row. 

  • Like cap­i­tal cas­es gen­er­al­ly, racial dis­par­i­ties are appar­ent in cap­i­tal cas­es involv­ing vet­er­ans. Over three-quar­ters (77%) of death-sen­tenced vet­er­ans were exe­cut­ed for killing only white victims. 

  • Over 40% of vet­er­ans lat­er sen­tenced to death expe­ri­enced addic­tion at some point in their lives, com­pared to 11% of all vet­er­ans and 12% of the general public.

  • The men­tal and phys­i­cal injuries some vet­er­ans suf­fer can result in inter­gen­er­a­tional trau­ma—mean­ing their chil­dren are also harmed by those injuries. Dozens of death-sen­tenced peo­ple suf­fered seri­ous trau­ma relat­ed to their parent’s military service. 

Download the full list of the 807 death-sentenced veterans here. Learn more about the 226 executed veterans below.