Summary: The Departments of Justice and Defense (DOD), the Selective Service System, and the Presidential Clemency Board have the responsibilities for carrying out the Clemency Program for the return of Vietnam era draft evaders and military deserters.
Out of an estimated 113,000 to 300,000 who were eligible, about 21,700 have participated with 13,750 assigned to alternate service, 6,052 receiving pardons, 911 denied clemency, and 100 cases pending. Justice dismissed cases not subject to prosecution and assigned alternate service according to U.S. attorneys' assessments of social and economic circumstances. DOD used the military board of officers to determine the amount of alternative service for alleged deserters according to prescribed military criteria, generally excluding social and economic circumstances. At the Selective Service, 2 years after the program began, 74 percent of those assigned alternate service had not shown up or had been dropped, 15 percent were in alternate service jobs or waiting for placement, and about 11 percent had completed alternate service.
