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.
Abstract: U.S. Air Force remotely piloted aircraft (USAF RPA) personnel face diverse stressors negatively affecting psychological health and military readiness. Prior research in diverse populations supports predictable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on occupational stressors, burnout, and more distal outcomes. Extending earlier studies linking broad variables (e.g., COVID-19 threat → work stress → burnout), the current study tests and refines an expanded mediation model based on multiple distinct pandemic concerns, occupational stressors, and burnout facets as antecedents of psychological distress mid-pandemic in RPA personnel (N = 496). Differential representation of demands, resources, and rewards evident across distinct occupational stressors in light of job demands/resources theory guided specification of mediated pathways. SEM analysis yielded moderate fit. Following removal of non-significant paths and addition of two interpretable direct paths, fit was improved, yielding seven dominant pandemic concern → occupational stressor → burnout → psychological distress pathways. In support of domain specification, five 'hub' variables (pandemic-driven change, personal stressors, workload, leader communication, and exhaustion) emerged as key intervention targets in mitigating distress in the USAF RPA community and similar populations during future pandemic-related crises.