Senate Report Suggests Veterans' Court
Around the State
Twenty-one years after Miami judges set up a diversion and treatment court specifically for drug offenders, Florida is poised to do the same for military veterans who have run afoul of the law.
Responding to studies that show many veterans face trouble once they return to civilian life, local officials and the courts are looking to expand alternative avenues to deal with criminal behavior while keeping veterans out of the traditional criminal justice system.
Since 2008, veterans’ courts have been popping up around the country as scores of veterans have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Though veterans are not overrepresented in the state’s judicial system, a report produced by the Florida Senate found there is an unmet need for mental health services.
“Behaviors that were an asset in a combat theater can lead to undesirable involvement with the criminal justice system in a veteran’s post-service civilian life,” the report said. “Veterans who do find themselves involved in the justice system often present mental health and substance use and abuse conditions or loss of cognitive function ability that can be treated.”
The first veterans’ court was established in Buffalo, N.Y. in January 2008, and according to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals there are now 41 similar programs nationwide. In Florida, Okaloosa County judges, prosecutors and local treatment professionals have already entered into an informal agreement that refers veterans’ cases to a court docket with specific knowledge of veterans and veterans’ issues. In Palm Beach County, officials are hoping to have a similar system up and running by December.
The idea for the court is a softer criminal justice approach, one that focuses more on rehabilitation rather than incarceration of the nation’s war veterans, whose problems may stem from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of combat service.
“Veterans’ courts are being established nationwide as a means of channeling veterans in the justice system into treatment programs in an effort to preclude further justice system involvement,” the report said.
A 2008 study by the Rand Center for Military Health Policy Research found that nearly 20 percent of military service members who have returned from the two countries report symptoms of PTSD or major depression, yet about half do not seek treatment.
Directing a large amount of state funds to new courts could be difficult, though, with the state facing about a $2.5 billion shortfall for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The report suggests using Okaloosa and Palm Beach as pilot programs.
A spokesman for the Senate said there was nothing in motion yet as far as the courts, but that the reports are requested because there is general interest in the issue.
Responding to studies that show many veterans face trouble once they return to civilian life, local officials and the courts are looking to expand alternative avenues to deal with criminal behavior while keeping veterans out of the traditional criminal justice system.
Since 2008, veterans’ courts have been popping up around the country as scores of veterans have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Though veterans are not overrepresented in the state’s judicial system, a report produced by the Florida Senate found there is an unmet need for mental health services.
“Behaviors that were an asset in a combat theater can lead to undesirable involvement with the criminal justice system in a veteran’s post-service civilian life,” the report said. “Veterans who do find themselves involved in the justice system often present mental health and substance use and abuse conditions or loss of cognitive function ability that can be treated.”
The first veterans’ court was established in Buffalo, N.Y. in January 2008, and according to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals there are now 41 similar programs nationwide. In Florida, Okaloosa County judges, prosecutors and local treatment professionals have already entered into an informal agreement that refers veterans’ cases to a court docket with specific knowledge of veterans and veterans’ issues. In Palm Beach County, officials are hoping to have a similar system up and running by December.
The idea for the court is a softer criminal justice approach, one that focuses more on rehabilitation rather than incarceration of the nation’s war veterans, whose problems may stem from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of combat service.
“Veterans’ courts are being established nationwide as a means of channeling veterans in the justice system into treatment programs in an effort to preclude further justice system involvement,” the report said.
A 2008 study by the Rand Center for Military Health Policy Research found that nearly 20 percent of military service members who have returned from the two countries report symptoms of PTSD or major depression, yet about half do not seek treatment.
Directing a large amount of state funds to new courts could be difficult, though, with the state facing about a $2.5 billion shortfall for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The report suggests using Okaloosa and Palm Beach as pilot programs.
A spokesman for the Senate said there was nothing in motion yet as far as the courts, but that the reports are requested because there is general interest in the issue.
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