We at Nacro and the University of Northampton are proud to present this final report which aims to contribute significantly to the limited field of knowledge around the barriers to identification and uptake of support for ex-service personnel and their families in the criminal justice system.
Ex-service personnel who offend make up a small but significant proportion of people in prison and under supervision in the community in England, Scotland and Wales. Through interviews with over 100 ex-service personnel and a wide range of stakeholders, this report sheds light on important barriers to support, as well as factors shaping engagement with services.
Identifying that someone has served in the Armed Forces is key to being able to access available support and the report outlines barriers we found to identification. We put forward a set of recommendations we believe will help improve both identification and take up of support for ex-service personnel and their families.
We would like to reiterate our thanks to the ex-service personnel who contributed to this research and allowed for a meaningful understanding of their experiences and also our thanks to all participants who shared their time and expertise.
We hope this report does justice to these important contributions and will ultimately help ensure ex-service personnel and their families can access the support they need.
Campbell Robb,
Chief Executive, Nacro
Professor Matthew Callender
Director of the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice, University of Northampton