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Special Courts Deal With Problem Vets

New system aims to rehabilitate returning troops

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 10, 2009 12:31 PM CDT

(Newser) – After returning from war, many “perfectly good kids” struggle with drugs and criminal behavior, but a new trend could help, the Los Angeles Times reports. Veterans courts are springing up around the country, offering an alternative route to justice—and recovery—for troubled former troops. “If they've been damaged and injured in the course of their service and we can help them become stable, we must,” a judge said.

Some 100 vets have stood in the first such court, opened last year in Buffalo, NY, and only two have ended up back in traditional courts. Most veterans courts will see only nonviolent criminals; they’re required to plead guilty and must commit to regular court visits, counseling, and testing as a trade-off for suspended sentences. “In veterans court, you have a sense of pride," one vet said. "You don't feel like you're going through this alone."

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Daniel Kind stands before Judge Robert Russell during a Veterans Court session in Buffalo, NY, on June 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

Veterans Court Project Director Hank Pirowski, right, listens to Guy LaPenna's concerns about paperwork after LaPenna appeared in the Veterans Court in Buffalo, NY, on June 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

Judge Robert Russell listens during courtroom proceedings in the Veterans Court in Buffalo, NY, on June 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

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Is it fair to put these kids in prison because they served and got injured? - Robert Alvarez, counselor
at Ft. Carson, Colo.

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Special Courts Deal With Problem Vets