What Are Veterans Treatment Courts and How Should We Shape the Research on Them?

• In Event: Veterans’ Treatment Courts as a Problem-solving Justice Alternative

Abstract

One of the newest additions to the “problem solving” court family is the Veterans’ Treatment Courts (VTCs). There are approximately 100 officially-recognized VTCs, but there remains only descriptive information about them and even less research. This paper addresses what VTCs are and how they differ from other problem-solving courts, especially from drug courts. Most of the practitioner literature on VTC equates these courts as drug courts for veterans, having quickly reached high public and political visibility and popularity. The formative evolution and development of VTCs is discussed, noting their expansion in the absence of empirical data about their effectiveness in attaining their 2 major goals: connecting veterans to treatment and reducing recidivism. Also included is information why these courts cannot be defined or evaluated based on methods utilized in other treatment court research such as drug courts. Notably, veterans who are honorably or generally discharged are eligible for a growing panoply of behavioral health services including drug and alcohol treatment, mental health treatment, and case management through the Veterans Health Administration, usually at no cost to local communities or to themselves. This is critical as availability and cost of services is one of the major challenges to treatment court programs.

Author

• Henry J. Steadman, Policy Research Associates, Inc.