Ex-military Personnel in the Criminal Justice System: An exploration of the violence committed across the military life course and the role of alcohol within this violence.

Abstract

This research has qualitatively engaged with military veterans within the criminal justice system of England and Wales who have been convicted of alcohol related violent offences. Deviating from a quantitative approach most commonly employed within the extant veteran-offender literature and employing a qualitative methodology has provided veteran participants, in custody and subject to probation intervention, with an opportunity to narrate their own experiences and understandings around both violence and alcohol use, as well as how these two areas have intersected, across the military life course. Central to this thesis is that the commission of domestic violence was the most common form of violence committed by the military veteran offender post transition. In light of this, a model to effectively engage with this population was proposed, namely The Military Informed Nested Ecological Model (MINEM). Developed from the Nested Ecological model proposed by Dutton (2006), the MINEM represents an analytical tool to engage with the domestically violent military veteran. Ultimately, a need to engage with and account for a military history when working with the domestically violent veteran within the criminal justice system was highlighted. Such a focus provides an opportunity to garner a deeper understanding around the nuanced risk and needs associated with this population, set against more common understandings of domestic violence within a civilian population, ultimately with a view to more effectively facilitate their desistance journey.