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The ‘Veteran Off ender’: A Governmental Project in England and Wales

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The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and War

Abstract

This chapter attends to the discourses that constitute epistemologies about the ‘veteran offender’ in England and Wales. By drawing on some of the key tools offered by govermentality theorists, the ways in which discourses have emerged are analysed to determine how narratives function politically and define veteran offender subjectivities and governmental intervention. In doing so, it becomes clear that criminological voices and the voices of veteran offenders remain marginal to the ever evolving debate about veterans, crime and veteran offender policies. In response, the chapter suggests that to bring these voices to the fore a different analytical agenda is required—which is referred to here as ‘veteranality’.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These figures have been contested, a debate I have had elsewhere—see Murray 2014.

  2. 2.

    To date, male veterans who commit a crime have been the focus of criminal justice policy.

  3. 3.

    Foucault (1974) stated: ‘I would like my books to be a kind of tool-box which others can rummage through to find a tool which they can use however they wish in their own area… I would like [my work] to be useful to an educator, a warden, a magistrate, a conscientious objector. I don’t write for an audience, I write for users, not readers’.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Emma Murray

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  1. Emma Murray
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool, UK, LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom

    Ross McGarry

  2. Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool, UK, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Sandra Walklate

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Murray, E. (2016). The ‘Veteran Off ender’: A Governmental Project in England and Wales. In: McGarry, R., Walklate, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43170-7_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43170-7_17

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-43169-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43170-7

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