HUFFINGTON
10.07.12
COMING HOME
know where to turn for help.”
That’s when Beavers met Judge
Patrick F. Dugan, the presiding judge
of the Philadelphia Veterans Court.
One of dozens popping up across
the country, the Philadelphia Veterans Court is an alternative to criminal court and it emphasizes treatment and rehabilitation rather than
simple punishment. Offenders with
military records are diverted into
Veterans Court if they choose.
The idea of providing treatment
— and not just punishment — for
veterans in trouble didn’t crystallize until 2008 in Buffalo, where a
local judge, Robert Russell, found
veterans swamping his drug court.
He saw that veterans with drug addiction weren’t getting helped by
being thrown into prison; they were
just being recycled. He enlisted the
local VA medical center and volunteer veterans to help out and began
sentencing the defendants in his
court to probation — and help.
Word of the Buffalo court’s effectiveness spread rapidly, and today some 95 communities across
the country have their own veterans treatment court.
Philadelphia’s veterans court was
A mural
honoring
veterans at the
Philadelphia
Veterans
Multiservice
and Education
Center.
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