When the only tool you have is a hammer, psychologist Abraham Maslow once observed, it’s tempting to treat everything as a nail.
Since the last time western Massachusetts observed Memorial Day, the state has fashioned a new judicial tool for military veterans who run afoul of the law.
As people pause on this holiday to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice made by some in uniform, let’s also celebrate a forward-looking program that helps veterans who made it home alive, but struggle with mental health and substance abuse problems that may stem from their service.
Two weeks ago, the Western Massachusetts Veterans Treatment Court officially opened within the Holyoke District Court, after a few months of preparations. Led by Presiding Judge Laurie MacLeod, it allows veterans who face misdemeanor and some felony charges to enter into plea agreements and then participate in a probation program designed to help them turn their lives around.
For veterans, it’s a second chance, not a free pass.
For society, the veterans court holds the potential to improve public safety by reducing the recurrence of crime. It does that by taking on a defendant’s underlying problems, rather than just meting out punishment.
Yes, it’s novel to think of a court as a place where problems are solved.
But that’s the principle behind all of the “specialty courts” run by the Massachusetts court system. They include four other veterans courts in the eastern part of the state as well as special courts that address adult and youth drug abuse, mental health and homelessness.
Participants in the veterans courts must agree to strict terms, including abstaining from alcohol and other drugs. They are assigned a volunteer mentor, a probation officer and a judge – all of whom work to reveal and address tough personal problems that may be driving criminal behavior. All who take part must pass drug screens, attend meetings and account for their behavior over many months.
The point, says Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, is to help these veterans get back to productive lives, rather than sinking deeper into the trouble, and bad choices, that landed them in court.
According to the court system, participants may be grappling with post-traumatic stress syndrome, with traumatic brain injury or with the aftermath of sexual trauma suffered through military service. After being deemed eligible by a district attorney’s office and assessed for participation, candidates attend a veterans court session as an observer. That gives them a fair chance to see that this program means business, and that people will be combing through the details of their lives and demanding a turnaround.
If they have the courage to opt in, veterans sign treatment contracts and begin the real work of facing up to the problems in their lives. That includes understanding the effect their behavior has had on others.
Rather than stand once before a judge, they must keep coming back. Both MacLeod and the program’s first justice, Maureen Walsh, get to know participants. They encourage their progress, while holding them accountable.
The program’s mission statement is hardly touchy-feely. It spells out hard targets for crime reduction (80 percent decrease in re-arrests), mental health counseling (80 percent attend therapeutic sessions for at least six months) and sobriety (50 percent of participants live sober for at least six months within a year).
Everyone is expected to secure stable housing, all get referrals for other social services and a third of those participating who started without jobs have them at the end of their probation.
As that suggests, the problems this court tackles run wide and deep.
Sentencing people to time in jail is cut and dried. By engaging in a new way with troubled defendants, this court seeks to deliver both accountability and hope.