JUSTICE

Study: Black Troops Are More Likely to Be Punished

“Racial disparities have persisted in the military-justice system without indications of improvement.”

A new study finds that black U.S. service members are as much as twice as likely as their white peers to face military punishment in an average year. Protect Our Defenders, the sexual-assault and military-justice advocacy group responsible for the study, based the findings on an analysis of Pentagon data from 2006 to 2015. Researchers found racial disparities were highest in the Marine Corps. “These disparities are particularly striking for black service members, who face military justice or disciplinary action at much higher rates than white service members in every service branch,” according to the report, which was released Wednesday. “In fact, the size of the disparity between white and black service members’ military justices involvement has remained consistent over the years, and, in the case of the Air Force and Marine Corps has increased.” A Pentagon spokesperson told USA Today that officials will review the report.