New study finds that black troops are way more likely to be punished than white troops

African-American military service members are more likely to be punished than their fellow white service members, according to a new study released Wednesday by Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group that has focused on military justice reform.

Depending on the branch and kind of punishment administered, black troops are 29% to 161% more likely to be court martialed or otherwise punished by their commanders than white troops, according to the study.

Protect Our Defenders obtained the demographic statistics of military punishments by submitting requests to each military branch under the Freedom of Information Act. The stats gathered from each branch were from 2006-2015, except for the Navy, which only had figures from 2014-2015.

Evidence from their findings also hinted at other non-white racial groups being more likely to be punished than whites.

Here are the key findings from the study:

• Black airmen were on average 71% more likely to face a court martial or some other form of non-judicial punishment than white airmen.
• Black Marines were on average 32% more likely to be found guilty of a court martial or non-judicial proceedings than white Marines.

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Featured image courtesy of U.S. Army