Includes bibliographical references (p. [202]-212) and index.
Contents:
1. 'The object of military law is to maintain discipline': different laws for different people -- 2. 'A court of justice and not a court of law!': courts and justice in the services -- 3. 'Law makes crime': what difference does war makes? -- 4. 'The biggest thieves in the world': service personnel and property crime -- 5. 'I didn't like the officer [...] and I don't like you': crimes against the person -- 6. 'The unwritten law': servicemen and domestic violence -- 7. The shell-shock defence -- 8. Post-war crime waves? -- 9. Conscripts and professionals: beyond the world wars -- 10. 'I could have done other stuff': the return to professional services.
Summary:
"The belief that crime declines at the beginning of major wars, as young men are drawn into the armed forces, and increases with the restoration of peace, as brutalised veterans are released on to a labour market reorganising for peace, has a long pedigree in Britain. But it has rarely been examined critically and scarcely at all for the period of the two world wars of the twentieth century. This is the first serious investigation of criminal offending by members of the British armed forces both during and immediately after these wars. Its particular focus is the two world wars but, recognising the concerns and the problems voiced in recent years about veterans of the Falklands, the Gulf wars, and the campaign in Afghanistan, Clive Emsley concludes his narrative in the present." -- Publisher's description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.