For the Greater? A Critical Examination of the Veterans Treatment Court Concept

• In Event: Ethical Issues in Veterans Treatment Courts

Abstract

The sustained combat of over a decade has highlighted the reintegration of veterans more than ever. Not wanting to repeat history, legislators, policymakers, and the criminal justice system have searched for innovative approaches to address the needs of service members who have become entangled within the criminal justice system. In an effort to divert service members from incarceration and to simultaneously address their needs in effort to reduce future contact with the system, the criminal justice system has developed the veterans treatment court (VTC). While the public’s commitment to those who have served may be largely supportive of this programmatic innovation, the VTC concept has not been critically examined to date. As such, this policy research explores the following ideas: 1) the potential for these courts to be discriminatory 2) their nationwide expansion in the absence of systematic research 3) the tension they create between punishment philosophies 4) their potential contribution in perpetuating misleading perceptions of military service.

Authors

• Erika Jean Brooke, University of Florida

• Julie Marie Baldwin, Missouri State University