Adversity and stability: Risk factors across the life course of incarcerated veterans in Australia

Abstract

This article explores the criminological risk factors for incarcerated veterans who have served in the Australian Defence Force. We conducted an international rapid evidence assessment of incarcerated veterans’ risk factors, and 51 life history interviews capturing each person's journey through military service, pathways into crime, and experience of incarceration. A survey on the needs and experiences of incarcerated veterans was also conducted. In this article, we reflect on the interview data. Key themes indicated that this group of veterans experienced childhood adversity, negative military experiences, abrupt separation from the military, and difficulties reintegrating into civilian society. Most veterans described the military in very positive terms and lamented their separation. We argue for a whole-of-government approach to disrupt associations between military service and incarceration.

Introduction

Minimal attention has been paid to the experiences of Australian military veterans in the criminal justice system by Australian policy makers and scholars. This article aims to contribute to our understanding of the needs and experiences of incarcerated veterans. The paper focuses on the military nexus with health, transition, service, and crime. That nexus refers to the strength of association between the health or criminal phenomena and the individual's military service. The military is a challenging form of employment with potential exposure to trauma through deployment experiences, military institutional abuse, military to civil transition, and the longer-term effects of service in a hierarchical and regimented institution. These challenges may include social disconnection, deterioration in mental health and general well-being, homelessness, suicidal ideation, poor physical health and chronic pain. They may also result in the development of veteran identities that generated challenges in the civilian world. The failure to adequately navigate the domains of health, housing, education and employment, transport, and justice can lead to social disconnection and isolation. Equally, the failure to evolve beyond the military self can retard military to civil transition. These issues are recognised risk factors for criminal behaviour that have been linked to veteran offending globally (Coté et al., 2020; Finlay et al., 2019; Harvey-Rolfe & Rattenbury, 2020; Short et al., 2018).

Much of the evidence relating to incarcerated veterans comes from the United States. The United States military has a long history of being a major provider of employment, occupational training, and education subsidies (Sykes & Bailey, 2020). The positive effects of service have been well-documented, including discipline, leadership, and resilience under adverse situations (Logan et al., 2021).

The vast majority of individuals who serve in the military do not become incarcerated. Available data from the United States indicates that veterans comprise approximately 6% of the general adult population and approximately 8% of the incarcerated population (Bronson et al., 2015; Logan et al., 2021; United States Census Bureau, 2024). Furthermore, most male veterans incarcerated in state prisons (74%) and federal prisons (77%) had been discharged honourably, meaning they served positively in the eyes of the military (Lucas et al., 2022).

A small body of international literature (principally from the United States) sheds light on the unique experiences of military veterans in the criminal justice system. Veterans experience relatively high rates of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS), depression, substance abuse, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) (Lucas et al., 2022). These conditions require complex and specialised intervention. Often these mental health needs are unaddressed, however, leaving veterans at risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system (Lucas et al., 2022). Indeed, veterans enter prison with relatively high rates of psychological issues (Harvey-Rolfe & Rattenbury, 2020) and are considered to be at increased risk of suicide in prison (Holliday, 2023).

Research on the risk factors for veteran offending paints a complex picture. A comprehensive review by Blonigen et al. (2016) found that substance abuse among veterans was consistently linked to criminal behaviour, and that PTS and TBI, when combined with anger issues, could be veteran-specific risk factors for violent offending. Evidence on the impact of family circumstances and education/employment history on the criminal behaviour of veterans was mixed.

For veterans who are incarcerated, two opposing viewpoints have been interrogated regarding the “veteran effect” (Logan et al., 2021). The first notion is that veterans might adjust better than other groups in prison. Military service tends to build discipline and resilience, and has some similar features to prison, including working and living together, structured routines, and hierarchical command. The second notion is that veterans might fare worse in prison due to the exacerbation of service-related mental health conditions. A recent systematic review from the United States found no evidence that being a veteran confers a specific advantage or disadvantage in prison (Logan et al., 2021, 2023). The need for further research has been highlighted due to the small number of studies and their methodological limitations. Given sharp differences in military and civilian cultures and structures, there are, of course, varying degrees to which these themes apply to the Australian context (Waddell et al., 2021, Wadham & Connor 2024).

The experiences of veterans within the Australian criminal justice system have been largely overlooked. The Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) defines a veteran as anyone who has served in uniform in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) full time for a minimum of one day (Ashcroft, 2014). Almost half a million Australians have served in the ADF, representing 2.8% of the Australian population aged 15 years and over (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2024). Approximately 6,000 personnel separate from the ADF each year and re-enter civilian life (DVA, 2018). While statistics vary by dataset, the most common type of separation is voluntary (approximately 44%). Other types of separation include involuntary medical, involuntary other, involuntary “retention not in service interest”, and contractual and administrative changes (AIHW, 2024). The number of Australian veterans who are in prison is unknown because there is no systematic data collection, although this is changing and corrections institutions across the country are, increasingly, recording the military status of new prisoners. Only one exploratory academic study in Australia has examined the relationship between military service and criminal offending in a contemporary context (Toole & Waddell, 2023). That study comprised interviews with 16 incarcerated Australian male veterans and indicated that abrupt separation from the military could lead to problems with employment, trauma, and social isolation, which, in turn, could contribute to criminal offending. This paper reports on an expanded sample size of 51 veteran interviewees and is also distinguished by a focus on the socio-cultural factors surrounding veteran engagement in the criminal justice system. This is supported by the use of a social ecological lens to enable better understanding of the ways veterans navigate the abovementioned domains across their lives (Caine, 2020; Portnoy et al., 2018). The social ecological approach in this research sustains the original focus of Bronfenbrenner to include micro, meso and macro implications for the life of the individual including social and cultural influences. The historical and socio-cultural factors have been neglected, because the ecological model has largely been adopted within psychology that fails to address structural matters. Structural factors such as transition pathways to education, employment or housing are as important as individual matters, such as physical and mental health.

For the veteran, military and veteran affairs systems govern life within and after service including the key systems of military justice, health and rehabilitation, enlistment and discharge, and postings and promotions. Military culture is hierarchical and rigid. There is an imperative to be competent, effective, and stoic. The military is a highly masculinised institution. There is a requirement to be martial (warlike or tactically dominant) and fraternal (i.e., brotherhood, esprit de corps, unit cohesion). The martial (and masculine) element of military life is structural. Men (and women) who enlist very soon experience the demands of martial masculinity. Similarly, military justice has a total hold over all military personnel – it provides authority to any commander to apply discretionary discipline upon a subordinate. After military service, the DVA manages claims and conditions as well as transition and rehabilitation. This is structural because it shapes all parts of the service member's life (Wadham & Connor, 2024).

Similar features have been documented in the structure and culture of the United States military and the way socialisation to military life creates challenges for re-integrating into the civilian world (Redmond et al., 2015). Military organisations have been described as a distinct type of workplace that is relatively isolated from the rest of society and places intense demands on personnel (Soeters et al., 2006).

In recognition of the structural factors inherent in military service, we understand the veteran through a veteran life course framework (Thompson et al. 2019, Wadham et al., 2023b). According to this framework, biopsychosocial and socio-cultural factors encountered earlier in life interact in a complex manner to affect veterans’ well-being later in life. In this article, specific attention is given to life before, during, and after military service. Transitions into and out of the military are deemed critical periods where positive social opportunities as well as social precariousness and vulnerability interact (Sampson & Laub, 2016). Moreover, well-being during the veteran life course is influenced by factors across specific life domains. The DVA identifies eight life domains as important to veteran well-being: health; social support and connection; income and finance; recognition and respect; housing; education and skills; employment and meaningful activity; and justice and safety (DVA, 2023). Consistent with these dimensions, it is necessary to consider the way in which social (determinants) and cultural factors influence veterans’ behaviour and welfare. Importantly, the potential for growth is recognised where surrounding environments ‒ including prisons ‒ are supportive and enabling (Crewe & Ievins, 2020).

This article addresses critical gaps in our understanding of the risk factors of incarcerated veterans who have served in the ADF. Findings are presented in relation to the main emerging risk factors for incarceration in this cohort: adversity in childhood; harmful and traumatic experiences while serving in the military; and inadequate support for transitioning out of the military. We also discuss the implications of our research and offer a series of recommendations for policy and practice.

Method

This article draws from a project on ex-serving ADF personnel in correctional services (Wadham et al., 2024c) and presents new socio-cultural analysis through the lens of the veteran life course framework. The larger project included a rapid review of existing research literature, a brief quantitative survey, and life history interviews with incarcerated veterans. This article presents fresh analysis of the 51 life history interviews conducted during 2021 and 2022 during the Covid pandemic. The current article focusses on risk factors prior to entering prison. Additional research by the authors examines incarceration experiences and post-release outcomes (Wadham et al., 2024c). The research was approved by the Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Human Research Ethics Committee (DDVA 33021). Informed consent protocols were followed.

Recruitment for this study prioritised veterans currently serving custodial sentences, however, other participants included veterans who had been sentenced to community-based options and those who had been released from prison within the previous two years. Nine prisons were selected based on Department of Corrections Data in New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland ‒ these prisons exhibited high numbers of ex-ADF personnel serving sentences onsite. Since incarcerated veterans can be reluctant to disclose their veteran status, we engaged veteran custodial officers who were veterans themselves and had connections to incarcerated veterans to assist with recruiting participants, and distributed posters and flyers throughout prisons so that veterans could “opt in”. Such officers proved to be key “brokers” of initial introductions to the study. We initially planned to avoid involving custodial officers thinking they would inhibit the veterans engagement as authority figures. However, it became clear early on that those custodial officers who were veterans had strong rapport and access to the inmates. Veterans with non-custodial sentences were identified through word-of-mouth and via veteran networks and parole officers.

The semi-structured interviews explored veteran life courses, including childhood and adolescent experiences, military experiences, transitions from the ADF back into civilian life, and journeys to imprisonment. The majority of interviewees were in custody and were interviewed in private rooms (90%) while the remainder were on parole in the community (10%) and were interviewed at mutually agreed locations or online via Zoom. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and then analysed thematically guided by the veteran life course framework. Names and specific details were changed to preserve confidentiality.

This methodology is a form of institutional ethnography which understands the institution as a textually mediated social organisation:

Institutional ethnographies are built from the examination of work processes and study of how they are coordinated, typically through texts and discourses of various sorts. Work activities are taken as the fundamental grounding of social life, and an institutional ethnography generally takes some particular experience (and associated work processes) as a ‘point of entry’. (DeVault, 2006, p. 294)

There were some limitations to the current study. The study took place during the COVID pandemic, which presented challenges to accessing and interviewing in the prison context.

Life history interviews are a valuable tool for capturing rich and personal qualitative data. The interview topics required a high level of sensitivity, and judgements were made to omit certain areas of inquiry in some cases, which resulted in gaps in some narratives. Given that only five participants were on parole in the community at the time of interview, we did not analyse this group separately and were not able to make meaningful comparisons between the paroled and incarcerated veterans in this article. Despite attempts to recruit female veterans, including distributing paper-based screening surveys to female prisons, only one woman participated in this study. Future research could focus on this hard-to-reach female cohort.

Findings: Joining and leaving the military family

Participant characteristics

Fifty-one veterans were interviewed. Fifty interviewees identified as men, and one interviewee identified as a woman. The average age of the participants at the time of the research was 48 years. The average age at enlistment in the ADF was 20 years, with an average service duration of 8 years. Where disclosed, the sample predominantly comprised non-commissioned officers and other ranks (93%). Approximately half of the participants had served in the Army (53%); however, veterans from the Navy, Air Force, and Reserves were also represented. Approximately one-fifth (18%) of the sample was identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

Available data suggest the sample was roughly representative of the wider veteran population in Australia. Specifically, the majority of previously serving ADF members are male (84%), aged 40 years or over (79%), had 10 years average length of service, were separated as non-commissioned officers and other ranks (86%), and had separated from the Army branch (68%) (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2021).

Few participants (12%) were arrested for a civilian offence while serving in the ADF. The majority of participants (88%) reported that their civilian convictions had occurred after discharge from service. Principal offences were predominantly violent and/or sexual crimes (67%), drug-related crimes (16%), or other/undisclosed crimes (17%). Where disclosed, the length of sentences ranged from five months to life without the possibility of parole.

Overall, findings revealed that pathways into offending were complex. Every participant had their own journey, however there were commonalities in experiences across different life stages. Three major risk factors were identified:

adversity in childhood;

harmful and traumatic experiences while serving in the military; and

inadequate support for transitioning out of the military.

We now outline the interview accounts to describe the incarcerated veterans needs and experiences.

Adversity in childhood

Adverse childhood experiences were prevalent among the participants. Many grew up in dysfunctional and/or abusive home environments. Commonly recollected occurrences included sexual and physical abuse and the misuse of alcohol and other substances. This adversity appeared to have different effects including social disintegration (the individual became engaged in groups, gangs, alcohol and drugs and, for some, criminal behaviour), and resilience (the individual endured the hardship and looked to opportunity to escape their situation).

Almost half the veterans, at the time of interview, did not have any relationship with their biological fathers. Approximately one-third of participants had grown up with a father or stepfather who served in the military or police force and had an authoritarian parenting style. In many instances, these father figures had PTS, alcohol use disorder and/or were excessively demanding and violent towards their children. Participants recognised the detrimental long-term impacts these familial relationships had on their mental, physical, and social well-being. In one example, Tom who was struggling with his own sexual offending explained:

[My father] was very abusive in every way … It made me the parasite I am now … He ruled with an iron fist.

Several participants enlisted in the military in search of the purpose, belonging, and structure that was absent in their home lives. One participant, Xavier, articulated:

I needed somewhere to stay and live and wanted people that cared … [In the military] there's respect, there's dignity, there's a lot of things that the big wide world didn’t seem to offer.

A number of participants made a conscious choice to enlist to avoid the drug use and criminal behaviour they had witnessed among their friends and family. Uriah explained:

The military was so good because it actually pulled me into gear and straightened me up.

For some participants, serving in the military was depicted as a time of stability and structure in their lives. The camaraderie and bonding as a team were highly regarded aspects of service. Some participants reported that military service had interrupted or delayed their pathways to offending. Harry explained:

I would’ve been in a lot more trouble, different type of trouble, earlier, if I hadn’t joined the Army.

This stability was challenged after key military experiences such as difficult operational experiences, military institutional abuse, or tensions with commanders. There was a real sense that the military provide stability, structure and identity, purpose and belonging, influences that became particularly salient upon separating from the military.

Harmful and traumatic experiences while serving in the military

Many, including those who also had negative experiences lamented separating from the military explaining how they loved the job and the experiences it provided. More than half of the participants reported negative military experiences, which impacted their mental well-being often resulting in self-medication. Heavy drinking was a large part of military culture. Some participants had experienced institutional abuse in the military which they perceived criminal offending as a consequence. Interviewees recalled many different types of abuse, which could be characterised as physical, verbal, psychological, sexual, administrative, and/or medical (Wadham et al., 2024c). This abuse was depicted as a consequence of command-and-control systems and inherent power imbalances in the military.

There were also accounts of further victimisation if abuse was reported to authorities. For example, after being abused and reporting the abuse, Percy was told by senior officials that he was:

… a troublemaker … We don’t need accusations like this around here … We don't want someone like you on this ship.

In research on military institutional abuse, Wadham and Connor (2024) have described this as the second assault. The reporting personnel is punished for exposing the commander to an issue which could affect his or her career, and the commander attempts to close the issue down.

Other veterans had been through traumatic deployment experiences that were not treated adequately and led to significant mental health issues. Participants were discouraged from seeking psychological care due to an institutional culture that treated psychological issues as a weakness. Wadham and Connor (2024) describe this as a vulnerability stigma. In some cases, trauma resulted in involuntary separation from the ADF and was followed by alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, and criminality. Saul said:

I came back [from deployment] changed. I wasn't the same person … I was a lot more withdrawn. I guess, from what I've learnt here, I was depressed.

Many participants had mental health problems that started during, or were intensified by, their service, and may have contributed to their offending. Common conditions included PTS, depression, and anxiety. Grayson pointed out that:

[One] of the symptoms of PTSD is high risk-taking situations, and I think that's where the [criminal offences] have come from. The high risk, poor decision-making, living in the moment, not looking at consequences.

The other side of PTS is the experience of institutional betrayal. The interview participants almost exclusively described a love for their military service and career, and the intense sense of betrayal when their commanders or peers turned against them, or the profound loss after involuntary discharge. Consequently, transition planning and support were of key importance.

Inadequate support for transitioning out of the military

Participants had a variety of reasons for separating from the ADF. A large proportion of participants had voluntary separations (39%), followed by involuntary or administrative separations, for reasons such as performance, behaviour, or workforce planning (27%), and medical separations (12%). A number of participants had undisclosed/unclear reasons for separation (22%), which limits the capacity for meaningful conclusions regarding separation type.

It was common for participants to find separation processes abrupt and inadequate, regardless of the grounds for separation. Participants who left involuntarily, however, tended to feel more out of control and destabilised than those who separated voluntarily.

Leaving the ADF was a time of challenge and opportunity. For many of this group, it was frequently a tumultuous time. In particular, veterans who had served full-time in the regular service found leaving highly challenging, when compared to those who had served in the reserve service. Inadequate separation processes appeared to be a risk factor for social detachment, substance abuse, criminal activities, and imprisonment. In general, participants had received little preparation or planning for their lives after service. Many interview subjects expressed a perception of institutional betrayal and abandonment after being injured or abused. Participants described the process of leaving the ADF as abrupt and insensitive and remarked on the absence of follow-up care. Many participants recalled a simple process of signing discharge or resignation forms and then leaving. Colin was released summarily:

‘There's the door, you’ve got two hours to get off the base’. And that was, literally, that was it. There was no follow-up whatsoever.

Some participants had completed DVA claims forms for service-related injuries and sought additional assistance at the time of leaving. In some cases, provisions were made for housing, health, education, or employment, and these arrangements were typically managed by ex-service organisations or by DVA. For some veterans, the slow and convoluted DVA claims process became an additional source of trauma. Other veterans were unaware of the DVA claims process or the existence of veteran advocates at ex-service organisations. Leroy explained: “To be honest, I have no idea what's available” and Ivan had the same experience: “I don’t know what's available through them”.

A narrow understanding of the definition of “veteran” was evident. Many participants had not accessed veteran services before imprisonment because they doubted their veteran identity and worthiness for benefits. Several participants did not think the term veteran applied to them because they had served for a relatively short time and had not been deployed overseas in a conflict zone. Some interviewees did not seek out veteran-specific assistance and entitlements. For example, Riley did not feel that he had done enough to be considered a veteran:

I didn’t serve long enough, I didn’t get deployed, I didn’t do anything. So, you know I was ashamed to seek out that sort of support.

The military environment is shaped by a hierarchy of oppositions, such as deployed/domestic, combat/logistics, commissioned/non-commissioned, and these hierarchies have a strong impact upon identity, purpose, and belonging. Veterans may not have disclosed because they did not feel they met the standard, had the experience, or were worthy of the title. For some the title did not appeal.

After leaving the ADF, participants missed elements of the military lifestyle, especially the friendships, structure, and fast pace. For many veterans, the service experience built a strong sense of identity, purpose, and belonging, and this was a deep loss upon separation. Saul felt that he had:

Lost my mates. I felt very alone. Didn't have a structure anymore … I started drinking a lot more just to … cope.

Some veterans self-medicated to cope with these losses. Others described how hard it was to stand down after being in a high tempo theatre of operations. Operating outside of the law was explained to give a level of adrenaline akin to war service. Allen attested:

That high-tempo paced shit that you get with the Army that you thrive on … the criminal world gives you that rush.

Six of the interviewees described the military crime nexus. They drew direct links between the traits and skills they had developed in the military to their offending behaviour. In a unique example, Tom recalled using his military planning and tactical skills to undertake a robbery. Most of the examples, however, related to the use of violence in heated situations. Two interviewees, Saul and Frank, hypothesised that military training had altered their natural fight-or-flight response, so their only instinct was to fight. Frank explained:

The fight-and-flight response had gone. They take that out of you when you do your service. I just didn’t back down.

Frank described how being in conflict or crisis situations leads someone to be always on edge and ready to engage rather than take flight. This was assumed to be a reason why some veterans may engage in violent practice.

Discussion: Key directions for future research

We systematically considered the risk factors of incarcerated veterans in Australia by analysing narratives through the lens of the veteran life course framework. Every veteran had their own complex journey through childhood, military service, transition, criminality, incarceration and reintegration back into society. Moran et al. (2019) describe the complicated interrelationships between the military and prison as being “multifaceted, multiscalar, entrenched, and polyvalent” (p. 222). We also identified notable commonalities in experiences and consistent themes.

Principal offences were predominantly violent and/or sexual. In the United States, veterans have also been found to be overrepresented in violent and sexual crimes compared to non-veterans (Bronson et al., 2015; Lucas et al., 2022; Sreenivasan et al., 2019).

Veterans have many of the common requirements of inmates, as well as unique needs related to service trauma, veteran identity, difficult transitions, and respect for veterans. The military places unique demands on service personnel. Childhood trauma, positive and negative military experiences, abrupt separation from the military, and difficulties reintegrating into civilian society often preceded criminal behaviour. These findings mirror those of Toole and Waddell (2023) who described this collection of challenges as a “perfect storm” of criminogenic factors. Overall, it was evident that incarcerated veterans have a range of complex and unmet needs.

Meeting the intersectoral needs of incarcerated veterans requires a whole-of-government response. Cooperative action will be needed from the ADF, DVA, state and territory correctional institutions, Attorney's General departments, legal systems, and the health and ex-service organisation sector to improve outcomes and minimise risk of veterans’ criminal offending. Key directions in research are identified across childhood, challenging experiences in the military, and poor transitions from the military to civilian life.

Adversity in childhood

Many of the veterans reported having a difficult start to life in dysfunctional home environments. This is an important finding because the veteran life course framework states that “well-being influences encountered earlier in life independently, interactively, and cumulatively affect well-being later in life” (Thompson et al., 2019, p. 182). Several participants explicitly recalled enlisting in the military in search of attributes missing from their childhoods, including purpose, belonging, and structure.

Another finding requiring further examination is the link between pre-service and post-service criminal behaviour. In our study, a small proportion of participants had committed offences during adolescence. International research has found anti-social behaviour prior to joining the military, including violent offences and convictions, is a risk factor for later violent offending and other negative outcomes, such as alcohol misuse (MacManus et al., 2012, 2015).

Childhood adversity and its lifetime impacts, including the potential influence on decisions to join the military and subsequent criminal behaviour, warrant further attention in Australian veteran research.

Harmful and traumatic experiences while serving in the military

Overall, participants tended to perceive their service in positive terms because the military provided a clear direction, routine, and place to belong. Military service often represented a beneficial turning point and settled period in the lives of the participants. Veterans’ experiences in the military were generally favourable, and many of them regretted leaving the ADF. Military service had a unique effect on physical, mental, and social well-being often due to deployment experiences, military institutional abuse, and the physical nature of arms corps work. Military service offered both protective and criminogenic influences. The military provided many participants with the stability they had lacked in childhood. Enduring friendships were formed during service. In contrast, separation from the military was often described in negative terms.

The military health nexus was relatively clear. Many of the participants had undiagnosed mental and physical health conditions from service, many were diagnosed while in prison with PTS or anxiety and depression, and some had diagnoses that were treated in a more conservative manner in prison than when serviced by their DVA-funded practitioners. Research from the United States shows that the link between military service and mental health is not straightforward, and is mediated by a variety of individual characteristics and experiences prior to, during, and after service (Reger et al., 2015). Future research is needed to address the range of variables that might influence the complex relationship between military service and mental health in Australia, including the role of screening procedures prior to recruitment and prior to deployment.

The military crime nexus was less clear. The vast majority of participants did not explicitly describe a military crime nexus, and did not attribute their crimes to military service in a direct or causal way. A small proportion of participants, however, felt there was a clear-cut relationship between their military training and offending behaviour, especially those who had been quick to resort to violence. Among these cases, the relationship between military service and criminal behaviour was variable and manifested in different ways. Careful consideration should be given to determining association, correlations, or causality.

Military trauma was linked to criminal behaviour, typically because of losing one's sense of identity, purpose, and belonging, which led to self-medication and subsequent criminal behaviour. Previous research confirms the prevalence of bullying, harassment, and abuse in the military and its damaging impacts (Collins, 2019; Wadham & Connor, 2024; Wadham et al., 2023a). A major cultural and attitudinal shift would be required to harness the positive aspects of military service while addressing the negative customs and values.

Trauma and other psychological issues were often inadequately diagnosed and treated and were linked with self-medication and criminal offending. When entering prison, veterans may lose access to support for their mental and physical health as well as psychological services. Other research shows that many military personnel do not use mental health services due to the stigma around mental health issues in the military (Ben-Zeev et al., 2012). Having an illness or an injury is regularly viewed as a weakness and seeking help is discouraged (Wadham et al., 2023b).

PTS was prevalent among participants. A recent meta-analysis and systematic review of international research found that PTS was associated with a higher likelihood of arrest and incarceration among veterans (Taylor et al., 2020). Early screening for PTS, along with timely treatment and trauma-informed care, is recommended to reduce veteran involvement with the criminal justice system. Sometimes, PTS was diagnosed in prison, but in some cases, prison health staff believed prison was not the place to treat PTS.

Veterans in prison frequently keep their veteran status a secret out of fear of retaliation or special treatment. Some participants were reluctant to disclose their veteran status, some believing this information had an impact upon their arrest and sentencing, and some thinking that it drew negative and violent attention toward them. Participants recalled how being known as a veteran meant being seen as “different” and “standing out” in prison, and other inmates would target them with violence to test their strength and abilities. Veterans were generally more supported and comfortable with other veterans, both as inmates but particularly as custodial officers. Veterans who work as custodial officers can voluntarily and unofficially serve as important supports for veterans who are detained. In contrast to Australia, the United States has an increasing number of separate housing units for incarceration veterans, which offer tailored education, therapy, and peer support (Veterans Justice System, 2022).

Inadequate support for transitioning out of the military

It was apparent that transitioning out of the military was a point of vulnerability. Separating from the ADF is a unique veteran experience that, when not carefully managed, increases the social disconnection that can lead to criminal activity. These effects were stronger for regular ADF veterans, in contrast to the reserve members, likely due to the level of ab-initio training and socialisation regular members had received and the distinct nature of service, deployment, and separation. ADF separation and transition issues contributed to social alienation and, ultimately, criminal behaviour. Many veterans had not accessed veteran services prior to incarceration because they felt they did not meet the standard of veteran and were not worthy of this support. Similar feelings of shame and of not being a “real” veteran have been found in the United States context (Ahlin & Douds, 2020).

The type and timing of separation from the military and the link to subsequent criminal behaviour deserves further investigation in the Australian literature. International research indicates that a specific subgroup of veterans might be the most at risk of poor outcomes. Specifically, veterans who separated from the military early in their careers, including those who separated dishonourably, have been found to be at increased risk of criminal activity (Snowden et al., 2017) and suicide (Reger et al., 2015).

Veterans who are incarcerated are rarely engaged with ex-service organisations. Veterans incarcerated in prisons do not receive information about DVA or veteran sector help while in prison. Wadham et al. (2023a) outlined the intense socialisation process used to teach the norms and expectations of the military, which includes both formal training processes and informal codes of behaviour. An emphasis is placed on camaraderie, teamwork, physical hardship, and the use of violence. There is a period where “the civilian self is broken down” and replaced by a collective identity, and civilian relationships are substituted with military friendships.

After an intense and lengthy socialisation period, it is not surprising that the summary and swift process to leave the military felt callous and superficial. The lack of transition support is problematic because exiting the military is recognised as a highly significant and stressful time “requiring management of relationships, social identity, and cultural adjustments” (Thompson et al., 2019, p. 183). The ADF, DVA, and ex-service organisations could collaborate more closely to help veterans successfully navigate the transition out of the military and back into civilian life. There is a specific obligation to consider a more measured and protracted exit strategy. The recent Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide identified:

a clear and pressing need for the rapid reform of the transition support system to ensure it meets the needs of separating members and their families, and appropriately addresses the magnitude of the psychological, emotional, cultural and social adjustments that arise as members journey out of the ADF. (Commonwealth of Australia, 2024, p. 60)

To successfully exit prison and correct a poor transition from the military, veterans need specialised veteran sector help. In comparison to the overall prison population, veterans tend to have higher levels of education and skill. One approach to promoting a successful transition is through higher education study. There is a growing body of literature showing higher education to be a valuable pathway for veterans transitioning out of the ADF. This research shows that veterans can make exemplary university students given their strengths of discipline, time-management, motivation, and adaptability (Andrewartha & Harvey, 2019; Harvey et al., 2018, 2020). Furthermore, university study can provide veterans with a healthy outlet and clear sense of purpose while preparing them for rewarding new careers (Wadham et al., 2021, 2022, 2024a, 2024b). It is recommended that support for higher education study form part of wider transition planning.

Conclusion

In this article, we analysed life history interviews from incarcerated veterans and identified clear implications for policy and practice. For incarcerated veterans, the path to criminal behaviour was paved with childhood hardships, damaging military experiences, and an inadequate transition process out of the military. We argued the need for multi-pronged approaches to breaking associations between military service and criminality. More evidence is vital to the development of a coordinated and continuous support system that benefits those who have served the nation and the broader community.