Waging War on Recidivism Among Justice-Involved Veterans: An Impact Evaluation of a Large Urban Veterans Treatment Court

• DOI: 10.1177/0887403416650490
• Author: Richard D. Hartley,Julie Marie Baldwin
• Published date: 01 February 2019
• Date: 01 February 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403416650490

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2019, Vol. 30(1) 52 –78

© The Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403416650490

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Article

Waging War on Recidivism

Among Justice-Involved

Veterans: An Impact

Evaluation of a Large Urban

Veterans Treatment Court

Richard D. Hartley1 and Julie Marie Baldwin2

Abstract

Problem solving courts have increasingly been adopted by jurisdictions around

the country as an alternative to traditional criminal court models of justice.

Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) are a type of problem-solving court being

established all over the country in response to an increased number of justice-

involved veterans with the return of military personnel from the Wars in

the Middle East. Despite their rapid expansion, there is a dearth of research

evaluating the impact of VTCs on recidivism. The current study conducted an

impact evaluation regarding recidivism among participants of a large urban VTC

program. Findings from descriptive and multivariate analysis reveal positive results

for VTC participants, especially graduates, in comparison with the control group.

Implications are discussed in context of three areas: (a) current criminal justice

policy and practice implications for VTCs, (b) findings from research on other

more established problem-solving courts (i.e., drug courts), and (c) research–

practitioner partnerships.

Keywords

specialty courts, problem-solving courts, justice-involved veterans, veterans treatment

courts, recidivism

1University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, USA

2Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, USA

Corresponding Author:

Richard D. Hartley, University of Texas at San Antonio, 501 W Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., San Antonio,

TX 782079, USA.

Email: richard.hartley@utsa.edu

650490CJPXXX10.1177/0887403416650490Criminal Justice Policy ReviewHartley and Baldwin

research-article2016

Hartley and Baldwin 53

Introduction

Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) are one of the newest waves of specialty courts to

hit the landscape of the American Criminal Justice System. VTCs are an amalgama-

tion of drug courts and mental health courts (Pratt, 2010) and operate in a similar

fashion to other specialized courts. The VTC mission is to divert eligible offenders

from the traditional criminal court system to non-traditional paths to justice that man-

date treatment and services (e.g., mental health and substance abuse treatment,

employment and housing services), thereby addressing the underlying causes of crime

in an effort to eliminate or reduce recidivism and repeat contact with the system. VTCs

strive to connect veterans—or in some cases, currently enlisted military personnel—

who are in contact with the criminal justice system to the treatments/services they

need but to which they may not have ease of access or want to readily accept (Baldwin,

2013b, 2016; Russell, 2009).

VTC programs emerged from the colliding wakes of the returning population of

veterans, the increased awareness of challenges facing these individuals, and the con-

tinuation of the specialized court movement (Baldwin, 2013b, 2016).1 As Operation

Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) have

officially terminated, the number of veterans and current military personnel returning

home have increased through Operation New Dawn (OND) in Iraq and Operation

Freedom’s Sentinel (OFS) in Afghanistan (Baldwin, 2013b, 2015; White, Mulvey,

Fox, & Choate, 2012). In addition, research indicates a higher prevalence of specific

issues (e.g., mental health, reintegration, substance abuse)2 related to military service/

training that (a) may put veterans at a higher risk for incarceration than the general

population (e.g., Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2009; Knudsen & Wingenfeld, 2016; Saxon

et al., 2001) and (b) have been shown to be related to illegal, violent, and/or hostile

behavior (Elbogen et al., 2012; Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2009).3

In response, many states have passed legislation or administrative orders creating

VTCs and many jurisdictions have implemented these specific treatment court pro-

grams to handle cases involving veterans. The result is that VTCs are currently the

fastest growing specialty court across the country, rapidly expanding from approxi-

mately one in 2004 to more than 260 in 2016 and functioning at the municipal, state,

and federal levels with funding from all levels of government and public and private

donations (Baldwin, 2013a, 2013b, 2016).4 The naming of mentor courts and organi-

zation of conferences devoted to VTCs is evidence of their popularity, which also

simultaneously furthers their expansion (Baldwin, 2016).

This exponential growth is troubling from a scientific vantage point because the

full breadth of problems facing veterans from this most recent era is unknown.

Historical statistics reveal veteran requests for disability from previous wars peaked

more than 30 years after their service ended, which makes the interpretation of the

current numbers alarming. History foretells a probable increase in the number of jus-

tice-involved veterans in future years that could have tremendous impacts on the

already over-burdened U.S. correctional facilities. As of 2007, veterans represented,

approximately, 10% of the incarcerated population, some 200,000 inmates (Elbogen