Recent Wars on American Soil: Differential Social Support, Service Era, and Veteran Offending

• In Event: Families, Peers, and Offending

Abstract

Military veterans’ contact with the criminal justice system has received increased attention from scholars and policymakers in an effort to identify and develop interventions. Few studies, however, have examined the factors that influence offending behaviors of veterans across different eras of military service. In this study, we examine whether sources of social support (e.g., familial and financial assistance) influence the likelihood of several offense types (e.g., violent). We use data from the 1997 and 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities to understand whether these sources vary across era of military service. . The findings for this study may provide insight as to the sources of social support that are associated with decreased odds of engaging in more serious types of offending as stratified by era of military service.

Authors

• Wesley Thomas Smith, Sam Houston State University

• H. Daniel Butler, Sam Houston State University