Justice-involved veterans face a number of challenges in the criminal-legal system, including receiving the proper care and treatment for trauma experienced during their service to the nation. This book examines novel approaches to care for veterans and identifies some of the barriers they face. One strategy toward ameliorating these challenges was the formation of specialized Veterans Treatment Courts (VTC) in 2008. Now numbering well over 600 courts nationwide, VTCs streamline the justice process and provide the necessary structure, services, and support to address the underlying issues behind their offending behaviors. The project upon which this volume is based involved in-depth interviews with 145 stakeholders in 20 geographically dispersed and characteristically unique VTCs in the United States. Interviewees included judges, court coordinators, prosecutors, treatment providers, defense counsel, probation officers, and others working as coordinated teams to provide a network of care enabling the justice-involved veterans to address their specific criminogenic needs and to promote behaviors resulting in subsequent desistence from crime. In addition to the voices of those working daily in the specialty court realm, the book also includes chapters on an issue that was broached often during semi-structured interviews: military sexual assault. Survivors of sexual abuse in the military report substantial trauma associated with in-service victimization, and these final chapters shed light on the extent of military sexual assault and its impacts on veterans as they transition to civilian life. This book will be an invaluable resource for scholars, researchers and practitioners of law, criminology and criminal justice, public affairs and psychology. It was originally published as a special issue of Victims & Offenders.

Approximately 4 million U.S. service members took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shortly after troops started returning from their deployments, some active-duty service members and veterans began experiencing mental health problems. Given the stressors associated with war, it is not surprising that some service members developed such mental health conditions as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use disorder. Subsequent epidemiologic studies conducted on military and veteran populations that served in the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq provided scientific evidence that those who fought were in fact being diagnosed with mental illnesses and experiencing mental healthâ€"related outcomesâ€"in particular, suicideâ€"at a higher rate than the general population. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the quality, capacity, and access to mental health care services for veterans who served in the Armed Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn. It includes an analysis of not only the quality and capacity of mental health care services within the Department of Veterans Affairs, but also barriers faced by patients in utilizing those services.

The Veterans Treatment Court Movement provides a comprehensive, empirical analysis of the burgeoning veteran’s court movement from genesis through to operation, and concluding with comments on its societal relevance. Beginning with the unlikely convergence of therapeutic jurisprudence with the oft-misunderstood warrior ethos that undergirds the entire movement, the text examines every component of veterans courts, weighing the cultural, legal, and practical strengths and limitations of these programs. Each chapter assesses key components of the court, including the participants, law enforcement, judges, prosecution, defense counsel, court administration, data management, the Veterans Justice Outreach Officer (VJO), probation, mentors, and the community. The book concludes with recommendations on how these courts can further integrate with communities, maximize efficiency, and improve. The book shows how veterans courts seek to serve veterans’ legal, social, and psychological needs, and how they serve more than just offending veterans by allowing law-abiding veterans, many of whom suffered greatly when they transitioned out of military service, to exorcize their own demons and integrate their experiences into a socially recognized system of care. Incorporating program evaluation with sociological considerations, this monograph offers a comprehensive, considered examination of how – and why – these courts operate, and provides a foundation for future development. The volume provides essential background for scholars studying law and the criminal courts, as well as policymakers, judges, academics, students, and practitioners concerned with effective jurisprudence.

Problem-solving courts provide judicially supervised treatment for behavioral health needs commonly found among criminal offenders, including substance abuse and mental health disorders, and they treat a variety of offender populations. These courts employ a team-based approach consisting of a judge, defense attorney, prosecutor, and treatment providers, representing a significant paradigm shift in how the justice system treats offenders with special needs. Despite the proliferation of problem-solving courts, there remains some uncertainty about how they function, how effective they are, and the most promising ways to implement problem-solving justice. Problem-Solving Courts and the Criminal Justice System provides a comprehensive foundation of knowledge related to problem-solving courts and the role they play in the United States criminal justice system. The book begins with an overview that explores precipitating factors in these courts' development, relevant political influence, and their history, purposes, benefits, and drawbacks, followed by a detailed discussion of specific types of problem solving courts, including drug courts, mental health courts, and veterans courts, among many others. Next a review of the legal and ethical considerations of alternative methods to standard prosecution is complemented by an examination of the methodological challenges faced by researchers when attempting to study the effectiveness of problem-solving courts. The book concludes with a discussion of future directions in terms of research, practice, and policy relating to these courts in the United States. Problem-Solving Courts and the Criminal Justice System is appropriate for professionals, researchers, and students in the fields of mental health, criminal justice, and law.

Jonathan Kozol describes "Homeless in America" as ". . . a valuable collection of enlightened writings by those who know the challenges and realities first-hand". An authoritative work on a compelling subject, this comprehensive title offers investigative essays on key policy-related issues surrounding homelessness. It also answers hundreds of questions about the magnitude and implications of this complex social issue. Illus.