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British Military Veterans and the Criminal Justice System in the United Kingdom: Situating the Self in Veteran Research
Mottershead, Richard
Mottershead, Richard
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2019-11
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Abstract
The 21st Century has seen the continuation of armed conflict, exposing military personnel to
the rigours of warfare and the challenges of transition back to a civilian identity. There has
been a renewed realisation that there exists a sub-group within the criminal justice system
(CJS) of veterans and whilst the exact figures are debated, their presence is not. This thesis
seeks to capture the perspectives and experiences of veterans who are identified as exoffenders and those having been employed in the CJS as practitioners. The super-structuralist
concept of the CJS collectively represent services of a ‘total institution’ that have shared
similarities and differences to life within the ‘total institution’ of the Armed Forces. The life
stories of the participants indicated that whilst one veteran life story trajectory (veteran
practitioner) appeared to be able to adapt during the transition to a civilian identity
successfully, there was evidence that the other veteran life story trajectory (veteran exoffender) found themselves segregated and isolated from a familiar veteran identity with few
resources to survive the experience unscathed. This exploratory qualitative study provides
emancipatory evidence that the process of entering the CJS as offenders often fails to address
the origins of their criminal behaviour or from the wider social context that creates a cyclical
response. The veteran practitioners appear to hold a crucial insight into the issues and seek to
progress the CJS’s need to expand its knowledge base on the identification, diversion and
management of veteran offenders.
The study was theoretically informed through the use of reflexivity to articulate the internal
and external dialogue of what is known and how it is known in understanding the lived
experiences of 17 participants. Life stories were collected from in-depth interviews across the
United Kingdom. The life stories were analysed thematically, providing insight and
understanding through the elicitation of narratives derived from the contours of meaning from
the participants’ (veterans) experiences and enunciating the two separate life story trajectories
into the CJS.
The findings of this study indicate the participants need to belong and explores how their
veteran identity instilled in them both a source of strength and a feeling of anguish, as their
new lives could not offer the same security and sense of belonging. The negative consequences
of being identified as an offender often resulted in the emergence of stigma and associated
shame upon themselves and their families. The life stories demonstrated disparities between
the attempted empowering philosophies of the veteran practitioners and the practices imposed
generally by the CJS. There were numerous examples of how the veterans’ prior exposure to
the institution of the Armed Forces had shaped their experiences and engagement with the
institutions of the CJS. Both sub-groups of veterans constructed positive ownership of their
veteran identity which at times served to counterbalance their negative experiences of
transition from military to a civilian identity. These constructions of their experiences
highlight the vulnerability of this sub-group within the CJS and the failure of the system and
wider society to address the consequences of military service on some veterans. This research
raises the issue of the ‘fallout’ from the recruitment of youth from communities where
established socio-economic deprivation has created fertile recruitment grounds for the Armed
Forces. The analysis identifies a pragmatic need to address the gaps within the research
literature as well as multi-agency working, in order to expand veteran peer support schemes.
The voice of the veteran has been overlooked within the positivist research approach, this
study seeks to capture the viewpoint of the veterans through reflexive exploratory research
undertaken by a veteran researcher to understand the phenomena. Researching the experiences
of veterans’ experiences of the CJS presented ethical and methodological challenges. The
study has provided new knowledge and understanding that can be disseminated and used to
improve current practices and policies.
Citation
Mottershead, R. (2019). British Military Veterans and the Criminal Justice System in the United Kingdom: Situating the Self in Veteran Research (Doctoral dissertation). University of Chester, UK.
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University of Chester
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Thesis or dissertation
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en