A National Study of Veterans Treatment Court Participants: Who Benefits and Who Recidivates

Abstract

Although there are now over 400 veterans treatment courts (VTCs) in the country, there have been few studies on participant outcomes in functional domains. Using national data on 7931 veterans in the Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Justice Outreach program across 115 VA sites who entered a VTC from 2011 to 2015, we examined the housing, employment, income, and criminal justice outcomes of VTC participants; and identified veteran characteristics predictive of outcomes. VTC participants spent an average of nearly a year in the program and 14% experienced a new incarceration. From program admission to exit, 10% more participants were in their own housing, 12% more were receiving VA benefits, but only 1% more were employed. Controlling for background characteristics, a history of incarceration predicted poor criminal justice, housing, and employment outcomes. Participants with property offenses or probation/parole violations and those with substance use disorders were more likely to experience a new incarceration. Participants with more mental health problems were more likely to be receiving VA benefits and less likely to be employed at program exit. Together, these findings highlight the importance of proper substance abuse treatment as well as employment services for VTC participants so that they can benefit from the diversion process.

Worthy of Justice: A Veterans Treatment Court in Practice

“…Notably, nearly a third of VTC participants quit, die, or are forced to leave the program. Compared with justice‐involved veterans in other treatment courts, VTC participants spend more time detained throughout the process (Tsai et al ). Still, scholars and policymakers argue that these courts are an important vehicle to aid a population who should not be treated the same as other criminal defendants.…”

A scoping review of military veterans involved in the criminal justice system and their health and healthcare

“…Traumatic brain injury, a signature injury of recent military conflicts (Snell & Halter, 2010), is associated with criminal behaviors, such as violent offending (Williams et al, 2018). Substance use disorders have been linked with recidivism among justice-involved veterans in the US (Blonigen et al, 2016; Tsai, Finlay, Flatley, Kasprow, & Clark, 2018) and post-deployment alcohol use has been associated with violent offending among veterans in the United Kingdom (MacManus et al, 2013). Among US veterans who served in recent conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan, combat-related PTSD was linked with a high risk of incarceration (Tsai, Rosenheck, Kasprow, & McGuire, 2013a).…”

Prisons or Problem-Solving: Does the Public Support Specialty Courts?

“…Second, Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs), which are expanding rapidly (Tsai et al, 2018), are particularly favored by the American public. As noted, nearly 9 in 10 of the respondents supported specialty courts for veterans, with 4 in 10 doing so "strongly."…”

“…Unlocking the "black box" to reveal what produces such variation remains at a beginning stage (see, e.g., Shaffer, 2011). Further, research on other types of problem-solving courts, though occasionally promising (Tsai et al, 2018), remains in short supply (Marlowe et al, 2016).…”