HUFFINGTON
10.07.12
COMING HOME
a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Another also failed to show, but
word came that he had attempted
suicide and was being treated in a
VA hospital. But the vast majority
appear one final time in Judge Dugan’s courtroom to “graduate’’ from
the program. According to the VA’s
Rebecca Hicks, fewer than 10 percent turn up as repeat offenders.
What seems to make veterans
courts across the country work is
that the service providers — case
managers from the VA and repre-
sentatives from city, county and
non-profit agencies — all sit right
in the courtroom. Help is not some
distant bureaucracy with a crowded, take-a-number waiting room;
it’s right at hand.
The benefits of this approach
are clear. Court dockets and jail
cells aren’t clogged with veterans
who’ve abused drugs or alcohol;
those veterans are out on probation and in treatment. Many of
them are seeing a physician for the
first time in years, going back to
school, going to Narcotics Anonymous and PTSD counseling. Some
have found housing after years
Beavers
outside of the
Philadelphia
Veterans
MultiService and
Education
Center.