Citation

Wainwright V, Lennox C, McDonnell S, Shaw J, Senior J. Howard J. Crim. Just. (2016) 2017; 56(1): 19-33.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, The Howard League, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/hojo.12189

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Ex-armed forces represent the largest occupational subset of offenders in prison in England yet we know little about their offending behaviour. One-hundred-and-five veterans in prison were interviewed and their offending histories reviewed. Most were serving their first custodial sentence, predominantly for violent and sexual crimes and had previous convictions recorded: a number had offended before their service. High levels of alcohol misuse and pre-service adversity were found. There were significant differences between offence types: violent offenders were more likely than sexual or other offenders to have offended before service.

FINDINGS suggest that interventions should focus on violent behaviour and alcohol misuse.

Language: en

Keywords

alcohol misuse; antisocial behaviour (ASB); ex-armed forces; offending; prison; violence