Law Professor Hugh McClean Writes About Impact of Less-Than-Honorable Military Discharge on Veterans for Columbia Law Review
December 1, 2021
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An essay by University of Baltimore School of Law Professor Hugh McClean, director of The Bob Parsons Veterans Advocacy Project, has been published in the Columbia Law Review, one of the top five law reviews in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. The essay, Discharged and Discarded: The Collateral Consequences of a Less-Than-Honorable Military Discharge, appears in 121 Colum. L. Rev. 2203 (2021).
McClean notes that between 2011 and 2015, 57,141 soldiers, sailors, and airmen were separated from service with less-than-honorable discharges for minor misconduct related to mental health problems. These discharges disproportionately affected servicemen and -women of color. These veterans, and others like them, face daunting reintegration challenges when they return to civilian society, as federal agencies and state governments deny them the benefits that usually facilitate a veteran's smooth transition to civilian society.
His essay examines why current laws and regulations are inadequate to implement the Department of Defense's recent call for the military service branches to consider the collateral consequences of military discharges in reviewing veterans' petitions for discharge upgrades. It also asserts that reform efforts aimed at addressing the collateral consequences of arrests and convictions in the criminal legal system must be replicated in the military. Prof. McClean concludes that without reform, a permanent class of dishonored veterans will never successfully reintegrate into society.
Learn more about Prof. Hugh McClean and The University of Baltimore School of Law.