Support growing for jail diversion for traumatized veterans

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An advisory group on veterans services convened by the Legislature recommended the criminal justice system be tweaked to accommodate veterans. Reported the Dallas News (behind paywall), "Veterans’ health and mental health needs should be a priority of the criminal justice system, the council’s report said. The Legislature should provide grant funding to local governments for expansion of the Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery Program, according to the report." (See here for more background on the Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery Program in San Antonio.)

Arguably, the goal of diverting traumatized or mentally ill veterans from the justice system has wide bipartisan support. Recently Denton County, a conservative bastion, opened its own veterans court, according to the Denton Record Chronicle ("Court program offers new path for veterans," Nov. 11):

For some combat veterans, trauma — mental or physical — is partof their service to our country. Such stress and turmoil can lead some todrinking or other abusive behaviors, and the accompanying run-ins with the law.
County officials see another solution.
The Denton County Veterans Treat­ment Court Program, approved bycommissioners in 2009, is finally starting to become active, county officialssaid.
Denton County’s program is modeled after a successful program inTarrant County led by Judge Brent Carr and is designed as a collaborativeprocess between the court, defense counsel and prosecutors to treatcombat-related mental illnesses that lead to the veteran’s criminal behavior.
“If the veteran successfully completes the program, his or hercase will be dismissed by the district attorney’s office — essentially theirrecord will be expunged,” First Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck said.

Of the crimes committed by program participants, the majoritywill be drug- and alcohol-related, with some possible violence charges, shesaid.
“There will have to be consent by the victim for this to happen,and we only take a handful of cases — there is a very rigorous screeningprocess they have to go through,” said County Criminal Court No. 3 Judge DavidGarcia, who will be hearing the cases.

Grits supports veterans courts but it's important to remember that, in the scheme of things, a "veterans court" is really just a specialized mental health court. So their success hinges on overcoming all the same barriers and shortages that impact non-veteran defendants suffering from mental illness and substance abuse.