Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Apr 8;7(1):6.
doi: 10.1186/s40352-019-0086-9.

A scoping review of military veterans involved in the criminal justice system and their health and healthcare

Andrea K Finlay  1   2 , Mandy D Owens  3   4 , Emmeline Taylor  5 , Amia Nash  5 , Nicole Capdarest-Arest  6 , Joel Rosenthal  7 , Jessica Blue-Howells  8 , Sean Clark  9 , Christine Timko  5   10
Affiliations

A scoping review of military veterans involved in the criminal justice system and their health and healthcare

Andrea K Finlay et al. Health Justice. .

Abstract

Background: In the criminal justice system, special populations, such as older adults or patients with infectious diseases, have been identified as particularly vulnerable to poor health outcomes. Military veterans involved in the criminal justice system are also a vulnerable population warranting attention because of their unique healthcare needs. This review aims to provide an overview of existing literature on justice-involved veterans' health and healthcare to identify research gaps and inform policy and practice.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted to identify research articles related to justice-involved veterans' health and healthcare that were published prior to December 2017. Study characteristics including healthcare category, study design, sample size, and funding source were extracted and summarized with the aim of providing an overview of extant literature.

Results: The search strategy initially identified 1830 unique abstracts with 1387 abstracts then excluded. Full-text review of 443 articles was conducted with 252 excluded. There were 191 articles included, most related to veterans' mental health (130/191, 68%) or homelessness (24/191, 13%). Most studies used an observational design (173/191, 91%).

Conclusions: Knowledge gaps identified from the review provide guidance on future areas of research. Studies on different sociodemographic groups, medical conditions, and the management of multiple conditions and psychosocial challenges are needed. Developing and testing interventions, especially randomized trials, to address justice-involved veterans care needs will help to improve their health and healthcare. Finally, an integrated conceptual framework that draws from diverse disciplines, such as criminology, health services, psychology, and implementation science is needed to inform research, policy and practice focused on justice-involved veterans.

Keywords: Criminal justice; Healthcare; Military; Veterans.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Adapted flow chart of record identification and screening process
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anderson RE, Bonar EE, Walton MA, Goldstick JE, Rauch SAM, Epstein-Ngo QM, Chermack ST. A latent profile analysis of aggression and victimization across relationship types among veterans who use substances. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. 2017;78(4):597–607. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2017.78.597. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arskey H, O'Malley L. Scoping studies: Towards a methodological framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 2005;8(1):19–32. doi: 10.1080/1364557032000119616. - DOI
    1. Atkinson RM, Tolson RL, Turner JA. Factors affecting outpatient treatment compliance of older male problem drinkers. Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 1993;54(1):102–106. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1993.54.102. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Backhaus A, Gholizadeh S, Godfrey KM, Pittman J, Afari N. The many wounds of war: The association of service-related and clinical characteristics with problems with the law in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 2016;49:205–213. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.10.007. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baillargeon J, Binswanger IA, Penn JV, Williams BA, Murray OJ. Psychiatric disorders and repeat incarcerations: The revolving prison door. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;166(1):103–109. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.08030416. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types