As a veteran, I was appalled to learn of Matt Apuzzo’s Associated Press filing which resulted in at lest three articles (see below) being printed as “fact” in numerous major news media outlets:
According to my friends at Red State.com, it appears:
(a) Mr. Apuzzo is selling a conclusion that was supported by neither the data nor the researchers;
(b) Mr. Apuzzo’s Math Kung Fu is weak; and
(c) Mr. Apuzzo shares with his AP colleagues a virulent disdain for the military which leads them to make up stuff like this.
See the rest of their analysis here. It’s well worth your time.
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Hi Bob,
Your post is a misrepresentation of Apuzzo’s AP report. The US Dept of Justice released a study showing that incarcerated veterans have approximately double the likelihood of being sex offenders than do incarcerated non-veterans (23% to 9%). This is a fact. You conclude that the act of reporting this fact is itself a smear of veterans. It would be premature to conclude that these data imply that veterans are sex maniacs or pedophiles. Mr. Apuzzo did not suggest this. Mr. Apuzzo actually offered explanations as to why this statistic could be anomalous, that is, he offers mitigating circumstances that might explain the data. This was a fair and balanced article by Mr. Apuzzo. It is interesting that you do not link to the original AP article or to the Department of Justice data. Is it enough just to type… AP… veterans… sex… smear?
Jeff — Apparently you don’t read very far past the headline. Had you done so, you would have found links to the AP article as it appeared in two major newspapers and one cable/web news organization. Additionally, if you would have clicked on the Red State link at the bottom of the piece, you could have read more about the flaws in the AP piece. It’s all about reading the WHOLE thing. Thanks for posting anyway. — Bob
FYI — I received another comment from Jeff in which he wrote, “My bad, I missed the links, although I had read the AP article in the newspaper and online. But my apologies for accusing you of hiding the article. I also read the Red State piece.” I would publish the rest of what he wrote, but he resorted to typical liberal name-calling and, as a result, won’t be allowed to comment here any longer. Thanks, Doc. — Bob
Veterans are half as likely to be incarcerated as those without service experience in the first place, researchers found, but 23 percent of the veterans in prison were sex offenders, compared with 9 percent of nonveteran inmates.
The incarceration rate for veterans is 630 per 100,000, compared with 1,390 per 100,000 for nonveterans. More than 90 percent of U.S. veterans are male, and 99 percent of the veterans in prison are male.
If you extrapolate these numbers you would end up with 20 percent of the prision population would be sex offenders and 23 percent veterans. Statistically insignificant and certainly probably not relevant.
lthomas — You’re right. Thanks for posting! — Bob