HUFFINGTON
10.07.12
COMING HOME
actually help, he says, and too
often they’re given medication
to keep them quiet.
“Wounded warriors experience
symptoms that often manifest in
criminal conduct,” Seamone wrote
in a lengthy article in Military
Law Review’s summer 2011 issue.
But in too many instances, simply
punishing and then discharging
mentally ill offenders is creating
“a class of individuals whose untreated conditions endanger public
safety and the veteran as they grow
worse over time.”
Within the military, Seamone
told The Huffington Post, “there’s
a reluctance to talk about treatment for offenders after they have
been convicted and to get them
involved in the intensive treatment that actually works at that
stage of the process. Medication
has become much more of a substitute for face-to-face therapy,
which has proven highly effective
in the treatment of PTSD.”
As a result, he said, military offenders “are often in worse condition when they get out.”
OUR JAILS ARE FULL
OF VETERANS
Since 2001, the Army has discharged 19,842 soldiers guilty
of multiple felonies, according
to the Army report.
Military service members
Drug free and
working on
securing his
life, Beavers
frequently
meets with
counselors
as part of his
probation and
treatment
program.