Is This The Right Thing To Do?

December 15, 2009 — Anyone that knows me or reads my blog or emails I send occasionally understands that I am pro veteran. I am one of so many that stands up for and strongly supports veterans and the laws and benefits that affect veterans. Well today's edition of the Austin American-Statesman is carrying an article titled "Travis County is looking to set up court for veterans" that caught my eye and raises a few questions. The article describes how county officials are looking at creating a court docket to handle crimes committed by veterans suffering from mental illness and substance abuse that would channel these veterans into treatment and social services instead of sending them to jail. Hmmm...now wait just a minute. Before reading further I suggest you read the American-Statesman article here http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/12/15/1215veterans.html.

First of all, who would be the authority that identifies that a veteran committed a crime because of mental distress/illness or substance abuse caused by their military service? Would it be the Veterans Administration (VA), county health officials, the individuals military health record...who? There is recent evidence (Fort Carson, Colorado and Fort Hood, Texas) that military medical personnel and even the VA do not fully understand and correctly identify those that suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and/or the use of illegal drugs to "self medicate." The system they work under often times does not readily allow them to effectively identify and treat those that are suffering. Manpower is an issue here and there is possibly too much "rubber stamping" going on to keep the flow of patients moving. Furthermore, how is someone in the military suffering from PTSD any different from a teenager dealing with the stresses of peer pressure or an adult that has lost their job and is stressed? To me there is no difference. For those that "self medicate" (a politically correct term for doing drugs), I have no sympathy. The body of evidence on what happens when one abuses drugs is huge and very clear and has been for a long time.

What crimes would be handled by such a court? Only misdemeanors? Could a veteran that committed a felony such as sexual abuse or burglary or car theft end up in this court because it was deemed that they committed the crime because they were mentally stressed or on drugs? This is dangerous ground here. There needs to be clear evidence that whatever crimes are handled by a court such as this are not repeated by an individual and the treatment and/or social services received were the reason that it was so and not because the individual was incarcerated. The above article presents no such evidence.

The Statesman article cites a 90-day study conducted through a Travis County program called "Veterans Intervention Project." This was a "self-reporting through questionnaires" study that reported various statistics on veterans jailed during the period of the study. The most significant statistic of this limited study is that only 35% of those veterans eligible to receive help from the VA for mental health and substance abuse issues had done so. The study noted that one reason for this is the stigma in the military against seeking mental health help. I am sure this is true, but the problem goes much deeper. There apparently is still a huge mistrust of the VA among Vietnam veterans especially. How do I know this? By talking with vets at VA clinics and VA hospitals here in Texas. This mistrust is due primarily because of past problems vets have had with the VA such as delays in getting treatment, mistakes made in treatment, and also because the vet himself is not yet over the war in Vietnam. This is an education problem and there needs to be ways of better educating veterans and the general population on what the VA is doing to improve (they are making great strides) and more importantly what treatment and services are available.

So the county is just beginning to talk about this court. No money to fund such a court has been identified and that is going to be a bone to chew. I personally have no problem with some of my county tax dollars being used for such a court, but then again I am a veteran. My neighbor next door could take issue however. That again is an education issue and the county would do well to lay that ground work down early.

I am in favor of such a court being established as long as it is carefully administered with strong, competent oversight, i.e. no "rubber stamping." Maj. Darren Long of the Travis County Sheriff Office and a member of a veterans task force stated it rather clearly in the last paragraph of the article when he said there needs to be more understanding of the issues facing veterans, especially those fresh from combat tours. "We come across them when they are in a mental health crisis," he said. "We owe it to them. They take care of us and our freedoms. Now it's our turn to take care of them when they come back home." It's what really matters!