Jesse James: criminal or victim of the ACW?

Jesse James attracts tourists in Missouri:

Townspeople don’t condone criminals, says Tison, but many sympathize with the Confederate raiders-turned outlaws. “Jesse was a product of his times,” she says. “He became how he was because of the Civil War.”

There's quite an elaboration on this theme in "Ride with the Devil," although I don't recall whether James was a character in this 1999 film.