Download 10 Key Components of Veterans Treatment Courts

The 10 Key Components of
Veteran’s Treatment Court
Presented by:
The Honorable Robert Russell
• Veterans Treatment Courts have adopted with
slight modifications the essential tenements of
the Ten Key Components as described in the
U.S. Department of Justice Publication entitled
“Defining Drug Courts: The Ten Key
Components”, (Jan. 1997).
Key Component # 1
Integrates alcohol, drug treatment, mental health
treatment, medical services with justice system
case processing
• Veterans Treatment Court promotes sobriety,
recovery and stability through a coordinated
response to veteran’s dependency on alcohol,
drugs, and/or management of their mental
illness.
Key Component # 2
Using a non-adversarial approach, prosecution and
defense promote public safety while protecting
participants' due process rights
To facilitate the veterans’ progress in
treatment, the prosecutor and defense
counsel shed their traditional adversarial
courtroom
relationship
and
work
together as a team.
Key Component # 3
Eligible participants are identified early and
promptly placed
• Early identification of veterans entering the
criminal justice system is an integral part of the
process for placement in the Veterans Treatment
Court program.
• The trauma of arrest can be an opportunity for
the veteran to address denial issues.
Key Component # 4
Access to a continuum of alcohol, drug, mental
health and rehabilitation services
• Participants in Veterans Treatment Court may
have different levels of need in a wide variety of
service domains.
• Issues such as PTSD, TBI, Domestic Violence
and homelessness may need to be assessed and
addressed.
• Mentors
Key Component # 5
Abstinence is monitored by frequent alcohol and
drug testing
Drug Testing
• Court ordered drug testing
• Frequent
• Random
• Use of results
Key Component # 6
Coordinated strategy governs Court’s responses to
participants' compliance
Incentives and Sanctions
• Coordinated strategy establishes protocols for
rewarding progress as well as sanctioning noncompliance.
Key Component # 7
Ongoing judicial interaction with each Veteran is
essential
• Judge as leader of the team.
• Continuity of relationship between judge and
veteran
• Relationship from acceptance in program
throughout treatment and commencement and
aftercare
• The message is “Someone in authority cares”
Key Component # 8
Monitoring and evaluation measure the
achievement of program goals and gauge
effectiveness
Program Monitoring
• Measures progress against goals
• Results are used to monitor progress
• Results are used to improve operations
Key Component # 9
Continuing interdisciplinary education promotes
effective Court planning, implementation, and
operations
• All Veterans Treatment Court staff should be
involved in interdisciplinary education and
training.
• Shared interdisciplinary training creates
common knowledge and understanding.
Key Component # 10
Forging partnerships among the Veterans
Administration, public agencies, and community-
based organizations generates local support and
enhances Court effectiveness
Partnerships for VTC
• Due to the potential breadth of needs of VTC
clients, a wide variety of resources are required
to meet those needs;
• Community resources
• Governmental resources
• Collaborative approach
This project was supported by Grant No. 2009DC-BX-K005 awarded by the Bureau of Justice
Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is
a component of the Office of Justice Programs,
which also includes the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, the SMART Office, and the Office for
Victims of Crime. Points of view or opinions in
this document are those of the author and do
not represent the official position or policies of
the United States Department of Justice.