Posted 11:28 pm Monday, July 26, 2010
Task Force Working To Create Vets Court
By DAYNA WORCHEL
Staff Writer
Vietnam veteran and former Marine Jack Clephas has never been in trouble with the law, but he remembers how difficult it was for many of his fellow soldiers when they returned from fighting that war. "If they came back and got into a scrape, there was no help available," he said.
Staff Writer
Vietnam veteran and former Marine Jack Clephas has never been in trouble with the law, but he remembers how difficult it was for many of his fellow soldiers when they returned from fighting that war. "If they came back and got into a scrape, there was no help available," he said.
Clephas, who looks much younger than his 61 years, said many of the problems veterans of that era suffered as a result of that war were hidden, and were not understood by the average citizen. He said when he was honorably discharged from the service in 1970, he and his unit were made to change out of their military uniforms and into civilian clothing in Okinawa before they boarded a plane to come back to the United States because anti-war sentiment in the country was so strong at that time.
"And we came back to Camp Pendleton in California in the middle of the night," Clephas said. He said it is important to him that veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are not treated the way he was.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental stresses a veteran suffers as a result of warfare, whether it was in Vietnam or a more recent war, can often contribute to a veteran having contact with the legal system, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The most recent (2002) U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Statistics survey of inmates in local jails data indicate that 9.3 percent of people incarcerated in jails are veterans.
There is a group of Smith County veterans and other community leaders who are working together to get these veterans the help they need when they find themselves in a courtroom for offenses such as Driving While Intoxicated, nonpayment of child support, or drug and alcohol-related offenses. They want to establish a Veterans Court in Smith County, somewhat similar to the Drug Court the county already has in place with Judge Carol Clarke presiding.
"We need to understand that some of our veterans come home as victims of the experiences they have had, which can contribute to behavioral issues that may land them in the criminal system," said Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who co-authored the senate bill which helped to establish the court in the 2009 Texas legislature. "We need to have a treatment response, given they are suffering from something as a result of having served their country," she said.
Smith County Court-at-Law No.3 Judge Randall Rogers agrees with that assessment. The judge is one of the task force members who are helping to make the veterans court a reality, along with Lt. Col. Jim Snow, Maj. Gen. John Furlow, Choya Shanahan of the Smith County American Red Cross chapter, and Clephas.
"These guys put their lives on the line, and many of these cases originate from stress," Judge Rogers said.
But one thing Furlow wants to stress is what the Veterans Court is not. "It is not a get out of jail free card," he said. "It's a one-time opportunity for a veteran to get evaluated," he said. The court is not an entitlement program and can only be used once.
Although there is no firm list yet of eligible offenses for the court, which will handle both civil and criminal cases, offenses which are not eligible are murder, rape, incest and sexual assault.
The defendant must be a veteran with an honorable discharge on active duty or in the Reserves, meet Veterans Administration eligibility criteria if enrolling in VA programming, have a pending eligible misdemeanor or felony offense, and be a legal resident or citizen of the United States of America and be a resident of Texas.
The Veterans Court would not cost the county any extra money to administer, because many of the community resources are already in place, Furlow said. "It's just a matter of connecting the dots," he said.
There are plans to form a veteran's mentor program within the court, much like the one in place with the Court Appointed Special Advocates program, where the court appoints volunteers to advocate for abused children.
The Veterans Courts hold the offenders accountable through a strict schedule of court appearances and treatment appointments, and if necessary, sanctions imposed by the judge that can include jail time, according to the Texas Policy Foundation.
There are ten other counties in Texas that have a Veterans Court system in place: Bexar, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Fannin, Harris, Hidalgo, Orange, Tarrant and Travis.
Furlow said his group presented the plan to the Smith County Council of Judges on July 13, and the Council was very enthusiastic about th
e plan. He said his group will make a formal presentation about how the Veterans Court will work to the Council in 90 days.
The main point that Choya Shanahan, director of the armed forces military resource center for the Smith County American Red Cross wants to get across is the need for a Veterans Court. "Not all wounds are visible -- family support has eroded, and these veterans are faced with picking up the pieces of their lives," she said. "The brain can only take so much,"
Shanahan said.
