Premium
How many prison officers are ex‐military personnel? Estimating the proportion of armed forces leavers within the prison workforce of England and Wales
Author(s) -
Moran Dominique,
Turner Jennifer
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
the howard journal of crime and justice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.462
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 2059-1101
pISSN - 2059-1098
DOI - 10.1111/hojo.12450
Subject(s) - prison , workforce , quarter (canadian coin) , military service , criminology , prison population , military personnel , work (physics) , service (business) , political science , population , psychology , military justice , sociology , law , engineering , demography , business , geography , mechanical engineering , archaeology , marketing
The prior employment history of prison officers has been overlooked within academic literatures and, in contrast with the prior military service of Veterans in Custody, the significance of their military experience has been almost completely disregarded. Since military service is known to be predictive of subsequent professional performance, this oversight, due in part to the lack of data, is potentially very significant in understanding the contribution made by ex‐military personnel as prison staff. This article presents novel empirical evidence from an online survey of UK prison officers suggesting that at least a quarter have military experience – a proportion which has fallen over time but still far exceeds the proportion of Veterans in the prisoner population. Based on these novel data, the article suggests future avenues of research to address the many unanswered questions about whether and how military experience influences prison work.