Veterans Court: An Idea Whose Time has Come
My first trial was an Army Court-Martial I prosecuted in Germany at V Corps Headquarters. Later, I participated in the first Court-Martial in Kosovo, as a criminal defense attorney attached to the 1st Armored Division. Now I am an active member of my local VFW Post, so the recent coverage of the nation's first Veterans Court, up in Buffalo, caught my attention.
Judge Robert Russell noticed the large and ever increasing numbers of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in Buffalo's criminal justice system. Working with veterans advocates and mental health experts, he created a Veterans Court. In this Court, Judge Russell can make sure that military veterans who commit crimes can get the mental health treatment they need and the veterans benefits they deserve. Instead of spiraling inexorably from depression to drug use to drug selling to violent crime, a veteran can get the help needed to stabilize his or her life. Buffalo is safer as one less repeat offender exists on its streets.
If the purpose of the criminal justice system as a whole is not to make our community a safer place, then I am not sure what all of us are doing in it. Certainly, judges, lawyers, and police do not work day and night simply to process files.
Study after study show that specialized courts like Buffalo's Veterans Court, where defendants are required to follow rigorous treatment plans in exchange for avoiding a conviction and jail, reduce substantially the likelihood that someone will commit another crime. In Philadelphia, District Attorney Lynne Abraham and Municipal Court President Judge Louis Presenza understand this, and have created Drug Court, DUI Court, and Gun Court, to name a few. Judges in the suburban counties around Philadelphia have spearheaded the establishments of Drug Courts and, more recently, Mental Health Courts.
Certainly, there are enough veterans in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties to justify the establishment of Veterans Courts. Let's hope the leaders in our area are watching Buffalo's experiment closely.
