If You Build It, Will Vets Come? An Identity Theory Approach to Expanding Veterans’ Treatment Court Participation

Veterans’ treatment courts (VTCs) provide a veteran-centric diversion option to traditional court case processing. These courts have proliferated across the United States without much consideration about whether veterans want, or need, a specialty court. In this article, we investigate the underlying importance of a veteran identity in the decision to enroll in a VTC. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with veterans, we identify four primary implications for practitioners. First, veterans are ashamed of their criminal justice involvement. Second, they are concerned about increased punitiveness by criminal justice actors, particularly law enforcement, because of their veteran status. Third, veterans perceive the VTC process to bestow upon them stigma and retaliation. Fourth, veterans resist VTC involvement for fear of dishonoring their branch of service. To expand enrollment, results demonstrate that practitioners should consider how veterans reconcile their veteran and offender identities when considering VTC enrollment.

A National Survey of Veterans Treatment Court Actors

Several controversies surround Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs), such as excluding veterans who commit violent offenses and requiring a direct relationship between a veteran’s charges and mental health diagnosis. The aim of this study was to examine VTC actors’ perceptions of these issues via a national survey. VTC Judges, Coordinators, and Veterans Affairs liaisons were presented two randomly assigned hypothetical clients and asked their perceptions of the hypothetical clients’ eligibility for VTC. The violent crime committed by the clients and their mental health diagnoses were manipulated in these scenarios. Participants were also asked for their perceptions of VTC issues and to describe the current practices of their VTCs. Results indicated participants were supportive of the domestic violence client’s participation in VTC, regardless of diagnosis, however most were not supportive of the involuntary manslaughter clients’ participation. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

A Qualitative Examination of the Experiences of Veterans Treatment Court Graduates in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

U.S. Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) serve justice-involved Veterans with behavioral health and reintegration issues. However, there is paucity of efforts examining VTC participants’ experiences and distinguishing the unique operations of VTCs. We summarize a descriptive history of a large VTC program in a major metropolitan area (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and examine the experiences of this VTC’s participants. We used content analysis to code VTC graduation proceeding transcripts with complementary content data from resources distributed by the presiding Judge to entering participants. From 2009 through 2016, 118 Veterans were graduated, averaging 9 to 12 months for completion for those with felony or non-felony charges, and blended monitoring with positive reinforcement within a three-stage program. From 62 VTC graduates across eight graduations, testimonies centered on gratitude toward the treatment team, treatment readiness, treatments received, and reintegration. As several theoretical frameworks on behavior change exist, opportunities remain to enhance the delivery of the VTC.