Veterans in the Criminal-Legal System, Missouri, United States, 2013-2014

The purpose of this exploratory study is to generate pilot data to inform the evaluation and development of interventions and policy to reduce criminal offending by military veterans. As the initial qualitative phase of the overall multi-method project, the aim of phase 1 is to explore veterans' experiences by identifying factors that veterans believe caused or contributed to their contact with the criminal justice system. Researchers conducted 28 in-depth individual interviews and 1 follow-up focus group with United States military veterans who had contact with the criminal-legal system.