Hazardous Duty: Investigating Resistance to Police at the Point of Arrest Among Incarcerated Military Veterans

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211042061
• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Date: 01 January 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

1134644AFSXXX10.1177/0095327X20917183Armed Forces & SocietyLevy

research-article2022

Hazardous Duty:

Investigating Resistance to

Police at the Point of Arrest

Among Incarcerated Military

Veterans

Mark A. Morgan

1

, Matthew W. Logan

2

and Ashley N. Arnio

2

Abstract

The link between military service and crime has been a subject of investigation for

several decades. Although research has examined the likelihood of arrest, incarcer-

ation, and recidivism across military cohorts, relatively little is known about the

circumstances surrounding police contact and suspect behavior at the exact moment of

arrest. This is a critical oversight given that what transpires during an arrest can have a

marked impact on downstream criminal justice outcomes, including access to diver-

sionary programming like veterans treatment courts. Using a nationally representative

survey of prison inmates, this study analyzes veteran and nonveteran self-reports of

their arrest controlling for a host of relevant demographic, mental health, and criminal

history variables. Findings indicate that veterans are signif‌icantly less likely to resist the

police at arrest. These results provide further support to the sentiment that military

culture and training can have a lasting behavioral inf‌luence on those who experience it.

Keywords

arrest, military veterans, policing, resistance, use of force

1

Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA

2

School of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Mark A. Morgan, Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies, University of Dayton, 300 College

Park, Dayton, OH 45469, USA.

Email: mmorgan2@udayton.edu

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20917183

Armed Forces & Society

2023, Vol. 49(1) 91 –114

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211042061

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92 Armed Forces & Society 49(1)

Introduction

Of national concern are the challenges military veterans face following their home-

coming from war. Those exposed to trauma, hazardous duty, or combat-related injuries

while deployed encounter an increased prevalence of mental health issues, including

post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol or substance abuse (Friedman, 2006;

Hoge et al., 2008;Taber et al., 2006;Teeters et al., 2017). These disorders, among

others, have been independently linked to antisocial behavior and the potential for

resistance during arrest (Mulvey & White, 2014;Sherman et al., 2006)—an important

f‌inding given that military veterans are disproportionately incarcerated for violent

crimes (Bronson et al., 2015). Since Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation

Iraqi Freedom (OIF), research on the link between military veteran status and criminal

justice system involvement has increased considerably. Informed by several academic

disciplines and diverse methodologies, this research has considered a litany of criminal

justice outcomes, including police contact (Camins et al., 2021), the likelihood of arrest

and subsequent incarceration (Brooke & Gau, 2018;Brooke & Peck, 2019;Greenberg

& Rosenheck, 2009,2012;White et al., 2012), institutional adjustment or misconduct

(Brooke, 2020;Drapela et al., 2019;Logan & Pare, 2017;May et al., 2017;Morgan et

al., 2019;Stacers & Solinas-Saunders, 2015), and recidivism (Blonigen et al., 2016;

Cavanaugh, 2011;Hartley & Baldwin, 2019;Logan et al., 2021a;Timko et al., 2014).

Despite the breadth of knowledge regardingjustice-involved veterans, scholarshave yet

to examine an important aspect of the criminal justice process: deference to authority

during arrest.

Our focus here is on the degree to which military veteran status accounts for

variation in suspect resistance. Accordingly, because the criminal justice process

routinely begins with an initial arrest, responding police off‌icers are viewed as the

gatekeepers of the criminal justice system. Indeed, what happens between an off‌icer and

suspect during the course of an arrest is likely to have a marked impact on subsequent

outcomes throughout the criminal justice process, including sentencing disposition

(Morabito, 2007;Phillips & Varano, 2008;Wooldredge, 2012) and recommendations

for alternative (i.e., non-custodial) sanctions including veterans treatment court (VTC).

Research also shows that VTCs and other specialty courts tend to “cream”the best (i.e.,

lower-risk) offender candidates for selection into their respective programs (Frailing,

2010;Kalich & Evans, 2006); a process predicated on past behavior and prior contact

with the criminal justice system. In addition to a mandatory mental health component,

the characteristics of the offense are often used as an eligibility criterion in VTCs

whereby low-level, non-violent misdemeanants are most likely to be admitted, and

violent felony offenders less likely (Baldwin & Brooke, 2019).

Given that military veterans may be particularly susceptible to experiencing mental

illnesses and associated disorders, it is possible that they may respond or act differently

than other suspects during an interaction with the police (Novak & Engel, 2005); an act

which may subsequently disqualify or prevent them from receiving interventions

specif‌ically tailored to their needs. To this end, we draw on a unique source—nationally

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