Stolen Valor: the People Who Commit Military Impersonation
STOLEN VALOR: THE PEOPLE WHO COMMIT MILITARY IMPERSONATION _____________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Sam Houston State University _____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _____________ by Elishewah Rosa Weisz December, 2016 STOLEN VALOR: THE PEOPLE WHO COMMIT MILITARY IMPERSONATION by Elishewah Rosa Weisz ______________ APPROVED: Mitchel P. Roth, PhD Dissertation Director Steven Cuvelier, PhD Committee Member Willard Oliver, PhD Committee Member Phillip Lyons, PhD Dean, College of Criminal Justice DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my awesome husband, Marcelino Avelar II, to all the other real veterans for their service and the people fighting for the honor of those have served. And to my grandfather, Samu Zwi Weisz, who leads me on my path of knowledge. iii ABSTRACT Weisz, Elishewah Rosa, Stolen Valor: The people who commit military impersonation. Doctor of Philosophy (Criminal Justice), December, 2016, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas. Stolen valor, or falsely claiming to have performed military service or claiming to have served in a different capacity than actually occurred, seems to be a growing problem in society. With the five branches (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force), and large amount of awards, the United States has created a large amount of confusion when it comes to military service. Even so, very little is known about the people who commit stolen valor and the financial crimes they commit. The current study is meant to lay a foundation for future research on the topic. The current study created a database from publically available online data on stolen valor offenders.
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