Military Veteran Involvement with the Criminal Justice System: A Systematic Review

Abstract: Justice-involved veterans face heightened risk for mental health issues, substance abuse and correlated interaction with the criminal justice system, given the nature of their military service. The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic review of the research involving the correlates of veterans involvement with the criminal justice system, as to date, there are no related publications performing the same task. Results from the systematic review indicated there were three categories of correlates of veteran interaction with the criminal justice system: incarceration, law enforcement, and criminal offending. The systematic review indicated there is a need for early intervention programming for at-risk discharged veterans.