The non-profit organization which disseminates information about the death penalty collected data from American states where around half of the death row inmates are being detained.
As evidenced by the report titled “Battle Scars: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty”, it appears that approximately 300 of the 3,000 people in the United States who are awaiting execution are war veterans.
Also, a large number of them are affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), after having fought in the Gulf, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Korean wars.
Researchers believe that defense attorneys don’t inform themselves regarding the fact that their clients are military veterans who might actually suffer from PTSD. This lack of preoccupation for such potential extenuating circumstances is also shared by judges, governors, prosecutors and jury panels.