Group looks to form vets treatment court

Program would provide care, not punishment, for veterans

A large group of concerned veterans, along with representatives from mental health and substance abuse providers, advocates, court employees, attorneys, elected officials, members of law enforcement and a judge, recently met at the Goodwill Center to discuss how to go about establishing a veterans treatment court at some level within the Yuma County Court System.

Their goal, according to veteran and organizer Milton Hawkins Jr., was to make sure that any veteran who winds up charged in a criminal case has access to the court-supervised treatment and programs they need to address the root causes of the behavior that led to their involvement in the criminal justice system.

“Whether the veteran goes through a specialty court or a regular court, they are going to be on a calendar, one way or another,” Hawkins said. “The difference is, by having a treatment court, you take them out of the normal court and get them the services they are lacking and need.”

In explaining how a veterans court would work, Hawkins said that the model is based on drug and mental health treatment courts — both of which have already been established in Yuma County Superior Court.

In general, veterans courts defer punishment, such as jail time, for misdemeanor and low level felony offenses as long as the veteran complies with the programs to treat the underlying issues — including substance abuse or mental health — connected to their criminal misconduct.

Participation is voluntary, he said, and available to any veteran of any branch of service, no matter what type of discharge they received. If accepted, the veteran’s case will be assessed by a treatment team, which includes the prosecutor, their defense attorney and a VA coordinator, to determine what type of services they need. When a decision has been reached, a treatment plan is incorporated into a plea agreement that becomes the contract for the veteran’s responsibility.

The veteran is then required to attend frequent sentence review hearings, which are used to verify his or her compliance with the program — which often includes drug and alcohol testing and attending recovery support meetings. If the veteran chooses not to participate in the agreed upon treatment program, the court removes their case from the Veterans Court docket and returns it to the traditional criminal track.

“Whether it be at a municipal, justice or superior court level, the veteran enters into the program, and is identified as having a need for service,” Hawkins explained. “Their intake identifies what services they need, and the court prescribes the treatment. They then follow that as a set of orders from a judge.”

Hawkins went on to say that veterans tend to respond favorably to this type of structured environment, given their past experiences in the military. However, a few will struggle, and it is exactly those veterans who need a veterans treatment court program the most.

“Without this structure these veterans will re-offend and remain in the criminal justice system,” Hawkins said. “It also gives the veteran a sense of purpose for having accomplished something.”

According to figures, Hawkins

said there were more than 16,000 self-identified veterans living in Yuma County communities in 2017, a figure he added that does not include any active duty personnel or those who may be homeless.

Other information he provided to the group was that there are already 15 to 20 veteran treatment courts established throughout the state, three of which are at the Superior Court level. Also, the recidivism rate tends to be much lower in VTC than other specialty courts.

Hawkins also told the group that when he first approached Superior Court Judge John Nelson, who was the presiding judge at the time, about establishing a veterans treatment court about five years ago, he was interested in the concept, but not much came from the meeting.

“It wasn’t due to a lack of resources or support. It was not being familiar with how to do it,” Hawkins said.

Following Hawkins’ presentation, those in attendance discussed several matters, such as how to go about identifying resources for veterans within the community, the cost associated with starting a veterans court, how the veterans be identified, the type of grant funding available, and at what level of court it should be started.

As their first step, the decision was for each person and organization to write a letter of support for the establishment of a veterans treatment court and have organizers present it to Judge Juan Guerrero, Yuma County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2, who is also a veteran and served in the U.S. Navy.