What is Veterans Treatment Court?
The Carbon County Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) was started in 2017 to address the growing number of veterans involved in the criminal justice system. This VTC represents a collaborative effort between the Court of Common Pleas of the 56th Judicial District, the District Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, the County Commissioners, the Carbon County Correctional Facility, the County Adult Probation Office, the County Department of Veterans Affairs, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Many veterans are known to have a warrior’s mentality and often refuse and/or fail to address needs for physical and psychological health care. Sometimes they are homeless, unemployed, helpless & despaired. Some suffer from drug and/or alcohol addictions or suffer from serious mental illnesses.
The VTC, through a coordinated response from all those involved, promotes sobriety, recovery, and sensitivity with a goal towards giving each participating veteran the opportunity and the best possible chance of getting back on track as a healthy, productive veteran and member of society.
The mission statement of the VTC is to identify and provide specific interventions for Carbon County criminal justice involved veterans in such a way to promote public safety, reduce recidivism and costs while improving the lives of veterans, their families, and our community.
The motto of the VTC is “Bringing Our Veterans Home Again.”
Traditional Court Characteristics versus Veterans Treatment Court Characteristics
| TRADITIONAL COURT | VETERANS TREATMENT COURT | |
| The Court Team consists of a judge, prosecutor, defense counsel, etc. |
VTC Team is used to achieve goals to support treatment interventions. | |
| Adversarial | Non-Adversarial | |
| Goal is to process the case; apply the law. | Goal is to restore the participant as a productive, non-criminal member of society. | |
| Judge exercises limited role in supervision of the defendant. |
The Treatment Team will play a central role in monitoring the participant’s progress in treatment. | |
| Interventions for substance abuse at the discretion of the judge. | Formalized and structured treatment interventions for each participant. | |
| Relapse may lead to a maximum sentence. | Incentives used to reinforce positive adjustment and Sanctions used in response to violations of the Veterans Treatment Court program. |
What is the Veterans Treatment Court Mentoring Program?
Mission Statement
The Mission of the Veterans Mentoring Program is to provide support, assistance and guidance by veterans to veterans for the successful completion of the CCVTC Program.
The key component of any successful Veterans Treatment Court is a Veterans Mentor Program. In this program, a trained Veteran Mentor is paired with a veteran participant to provide support as he/she navigates through the court and treatment. Ideally, Mentors/participants will be paired by service whenever possible. The Mentor is present as an ally and friend, to assist the veteran through this difficult time. Our belief is that the shared experiences of another veteran will be critical in assisting the participant in regaining control of his/her life and successfully connecting to and maintaining treatment, which will lead to successful completion of the Veterans Treatment Court Program.
The Mentoring Program offers support and encouragement for veterans in the court system by spending one-on-one time with the veteran participant on a regular basis to provide an opportunity to discuss concerns and receive feedback and support from another veteran. The Mentor will have a resource book at his/her disposal to refer veterans to a wide range of available services both within the federal, state and local veteran system and in the community at large. These include, but are not limited to: monetary and healthcare benefits, housing, spiritual needs, social/recreational needs and employment. The Mentor is a resource to the veteran, not a counselor.
The VTC, through a coordinated response from all those involved, promotes sobriety, recovery, and sensitivity with a goal towards giving each participating veteran the opportunity and the best possible chance of getting back on track as a healthy, productive veteran and member of society.
Veterans Treatment Court Mentoring Manual