Soldier, sailor, beggarman, thief : crime and the British armed services since 1914 / Clive Emsley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Emsley, Clive.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crime--Great Britain.

Crime.

Great Britain--Armed Forces--History.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (233 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

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 20th century. This is a serious investigation of criminal offending by members of the British armed forces both during and immediately after these wars.

Contents:

Cover; Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. 'The Object of Military Law Is to Maintain Discipline': Different Laws for Different People; Parallel History: Civilian Law and Military Law; The Death Penalty; The Aims and Realities of Military Law; Civilian Jurisdiction and Military Jurisdiction: Problems and Resolutions; The Problem of the 'Criminal'; 2. 'A Court of Justice and Not a Court of Law!': Courts and Justice in the Services; Parallel Histories: Civilian Courts and Military Courts; Courts Martial; 'Heads We Win, Tails You Lose'

Bobbies, Redcaps, and OthersPunishment; 3. 'Law Makes Crime': What Difference Does War Make?; 4. 'The Biggest Thieves in the World': Service Personnel and Property Crime; Quarter-blokes and Petty Thieves; Thinking Bigger: The Black Market; Frauds and Rackets in a Ruined Europe; Working in Packs; White Collar: Khaki Collar; Miscellaneous Offences; 5. 'I Didn't Like the Officer [ . . . ] and I Don't Like You': Crimes Against the Person; Drinking, Feuding, and Fighting; The Moral Economy of the 20th-century Serviceman; Lethal Violence; Sexual Violence; Gross Indecency

6. 'The Unwritten Law': Servicemen and Domestic Violence'Manslaughter under Great Provocation'; 'I Found Him with My Wife and Did What I Was Entitled To'; 'The Rising Tide of Bigamy'; 7. The Shell-shock Defence; 'My Mind Was Brought Back to the Years When I Was in France'; 'The Very Man Who Might Go Mad at Any Moment'; Barbed-wire Disease; 8. Post-war Crime Waves?; Deserters, Bad Soldiers, Bad Citizens; Beggars and Fraudsters; Violent Veterans; The Veteran As Spiv; 9. Conscripts and Professionals: Beyond the World Wars; The Best Years of Their Lives?; War Crimes and Other Crimes

Changes in the Military Justice System10. 'I Could Have Done Other Stuff ': The Return to Professional Services; Drinking, Violence, and Post-traumatic Stress; Heroes to Zeroes? Heroes to Victims?; Bibliography; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; V; W; Y

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-19-164703-9

1-283-94956-3

OCLC:

922972101