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| Rose Carmen Goldberg |
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| Rose Valera |
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Veterans treatment courts, or VTCs, provide lifesaving services to justice-involved veterans. Many veterans, however, are not allowed to participate because of their discharge status. Ironically, these veterans are often most in need of the specialized treatment VTCs provide.
This Veterans Day, courts should honor all veterans by giving them equal access to VTCs.
VTCs are an effective judicial intervention that improves outcomes for justice-involved veterans and advances public safety. They accomplish these twin goals by addressing the root causes of many veterans' justice involvement: traumatic experiences in service that result in mental health conditions and that, in turn, lead to criminal behavior.[1] These conditions often include post-traumatic stress disorder from combat or military sexual trauma, and traumatic brain injury.
Left unaddressed, these conditions can lead to self-medication, homelessness and other risk factors for justice-involvement. This can result in a seemingly unbreakable cycle of recidivism.
VTCs help break this cycle by providing a combination of structured accountability, stabilization and treatment tailored to the veteran community. A key part of this formula is VTCs' collaborative approach: They are a one-stop shop for mental health and substance use treatment, social services, and close judicial supervision.[2]
Peer support is also an essential ingredient. In many VTCs, participants are paired with VTC graduate mentors who provide military culture-informed support and VTC know-how. Veterans also appear in court together and share in one another's struggles and successes.
This unique model works. Nationally, VTC participants recidivate at lower rates than the overall justice-involved population. According to a 2018 study of VTC participants nationwide, nearly one year into the program, 14% of VTC participants recidivated, compared to an estimated 23% to 46% rate across the criminal justice system.[3]
In one state, Rhode Island, VTC participants have a
postprogram conviction rate of less than 9%, compared to a statewide rate of 47%.[4]
VTC participation and support services also increase housing stability.[5] Veterans who participate in VTC generally speak highly of the support and services that VTCs bring under one roof.[6]
Indeed, VTC success stories abound. For VTC graduate and
U.S. Army veteran Corey Schramm, participating in VTC was life-changing.[7] As he recounted in testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs in April, within a few months of joining the Army, he deployed to Iraq. Overall, he deployed three times.
Upon returning, Schramm struggled with the transition from the structure and routine of service to life back at home, including being a new dad. He began to drift into drinking and drug use as a way to cope. He ended up on and off probation, and eventually reached a breaking point. After a destructive episode at his home, he was charged with a felony and faced the possibility of incarceration.
This might have been the end of the story for Schramm if he hadn't been able to access a VTC. In VTC, he found the military-like structure comforting and felt a renewed sense of accountability. He also built a foundation for a healthy civilian life through a combination of community-based services,
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs care and vocational rehabilitation programming. After graduating, Schramm became a mental health case manager.
Unfortunately, Schramm's transformative experience is out of reach for a lot of veterans who need and deserve support. Many VTCs only
allow veterans with an honorable or general discharge to participate. This is because VTCs tend to rely on the VA for mental health treatment and care coordination, and only veterans with these discharge statuses are automatically eligible.
Veterans with less-than-honorable discharges — including other-than-honorable and bad-conduct discharges — are often locked out of the VA and, by extension, many VTCs. Nearly a quarter of VTCs across the country exclude these veterans by requiring participants to be VA-eligible.[8]
This restrictive eligibility criterion undermines the purpose of VTCs: improving outcomes for justice-involved veterans. Veterans with less-than-honorable discharges are dramatically overrepresented among incarcerated veterans. While less than 7% of veterans have a less-than-honorable discharge, more than 17% of incarcerated veterans do.[9]
These veterans also have high rates of PTSD, TBI and other mental health conditions, which VTCs are designed to address.[10] Additionally, they are at higher risk for suicide, homelessness and substance abuse than their honorably discharged peers.[11]
Fortunately, in many jurisdictions, expanding VTC access should not be a heavy lift. VTCs are not inherently limited to using VA mental health treatment or to serving VA-eligible veterans.[12] There are a variety of treatment options available to veterans with less-than-honorable discharges that VTCs can rely on.
In fact, some of these options live within the VA itself. The VA has recognized that certain circumstances warrant exceptions from standard healthcare eligibility rules. The VA provides treatment to veterans, irrespective of discharge status, for mental health conditions related to military sexual trauma.[13] Likewise, veterans with less-than-honorable discharges who served at least 100 days, and were deployed in a combat theater or piloted a drone in combat can receive VA mental healthcare.[14]
More generally, veterans with mental health conditions recognized as service-connected by the VA can receive treatment for these specific conditions, despite being ineligible for VA disability compensation because of their discharge status.[15] VA Vet Centers provide mental healthcare to veterans regardless of discharge status in many circumstances.[16]
VTCs can use these VA-based treatment options to serve veterans with less-than-honorable discharges.
Mental healthcare and care coordination are, of course, available outside the VA as well, including through state, local and community-based programs. Collaborating with such non-VA mental healthcare providers would not be new for many courts. In addition to VTCs, many jurisdictions have mental health courts that connect the general population with treatment. The collaborative approach of other treatment courts can lay the groundwork for connecting veterans with less-than-honorable discharges to the mental healthcare component of VTCs.
Many VTCs already have the authority to open the door for veterans with less-than-honorable discharges. Of the more than 600 state and local VTCs currently in operation, most have significant latitude in setting their eligibility criteria.[17]
In the majority of states with VTC-enabling statutes, there is no discharge status-based eligibility requirement, leaving individual courts discretion.[18] In California, for example, the only statutory eligibility requirements concerning veteran characteristics are military service and evidence of service-related trauma, substance abuse or mental health conditions.[19]
Some states explicitly leave the decision to local stakeholders. Florida, for one, specifically permits individual judicial circuits to make discharge-based eligibility determinations.[20]
There's nothing stopping VTCs from using their discretion to help thousands more veterans access a vital resource.
Veterans with less-than-honorable discharges already face stigma and unequal treatment in civilian life because of their discharge status.[21] This is so even when their discharge and justice involvement are the painful results of service trauma. VTCs should play a role in healing instead of perpetuating this harm. The lives of our clients and veterans across the country may depend on it.
Rose Carmen Goldberg is the director of the Veterans Clinic and an associate teaching professor at the University of Washington School of Law.
Rose Valera is a fellow in the Veterans Clinic and an Army veteran. She previously served as an active-duty Army judge advocate.
"Perspectives" is a regular feature written by guest authors on access to justice issues. To pitch article ideas, email expertanalysis@law360.com.
The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employer, its clients, or Portfolio Media Inc., or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.
[1] Justice for Vets, The Ten Key Components of Veterans Treatment Courts (2008),
https://allrise.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/10-Key-Components-VTC.pdf [
https://perma.cc/28A8-ZDQD].
[2] Id.; U.S. Dep't of Just., Off. of Just. Programs, BJA FY25 Veterans Treatment Court Program (2025),
https://www.ojp.gov/funding/docs/bja-2025-172484.pdf [
https://perma.cc/2YVN-X86T].
[3] Jack Tsai, et al., A National Study of Veterans Treatment Court Participants: Who Benefits and Who Recidivates, 45 Admin. & Pol'y in Mental Health & Mental Health Servs. Research 236, 239 (2018),
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5776060/.
[4] Nat'l Ctr. for State Courts, Rhode Island Veterans Treatment Court (RIVTC) (2005),
https://nationalcenterforstatecourts.app.box.com/s/zegsfj6j2ut2n9u6egdy0xai4pnlytav.
[5] Tsai, et al., supra note 3, at 236.
[6] See generally Alyssa M. Sheeran, et al., Healing, Accountability, and Support: Participants' Experiences in a Veterans Treatment Court, 12 J. Veterans Stud. 147 (2026),
https://storage.googleapis.com/jnl-vt-j-jvs-files/journals/1/articles/863/6a32885817347.pdf [
https://perma.cc/3YNU-J2RP]; Frederick Lux, et al., A Qualitative Measure of Veterans Treatment Court Efficacy, 2 Open Access J. Criminology Investigation & Justice 1 (2024),
https://medwinpublishers.com/OAJCIJ/a-qualitative-measure-of-veterans-treatment-courts-efficacy.pdf [
https://perma.cc/G8UF-NV5X].
[7] Programs for Justice-Involved Veterans: Hearing Before S. Comm. on Veterans' Affairs, 119th Cong. (2026) (statement of Corey Schramm, Adult Case Manager, Johnson County Mental Health Center, Kansas),
https://www.veterans.senate.gov/services/files/F8A7CB12-1A7F-476D-848C-2BC2E4C62500 [
https://perma.cc/2VJW-KFEQ].
[8] Julie Marie Baldwin, Investigating the Programmatic Attack: A National Survey of Veterans Treatment Courts, 105 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 705, 742 (2015),
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7568&context=jclc [
https://perma.cc/T6EB-RGCL] (In 2015, 24.1% of VTCs excluded veterans who are not VA-eligible.).
[9] Veterans Legal Clinic, Legal Servs. Ctr. of Harvard Law Sch., Turned Away: How VA Unlawfully Denies Health Care to Veterans with Bad Paper Discharges 7 (2020),
https://legalservicescenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Turn-Away-Report.pdf [
https://perma.cc/J7MU-AVTL]; Jennifer Bronson, et al., Veterans in Prison and Jail, 2011-12 7 U.S. Dep't of Just. (Dec. 2015),
https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/vpj1112.pdf [
https://perma.cc/NRA6-JU26].
[10] U.S. Gov't Accountability Off., GAO-17-260, DOD Health: Actions Needed to Ensure Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury Are Considered in Misconduct Separations 14 (2017),
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-17-260.pdf [
https://perma.cc/3GSN-LTW7] (finding that 62 percent of servicemembers separated for misconduct had PTSD, TBI, or other mental health condition).
[11] Mark A. Reger, et al., Character of Discharge from the US Military and Suicide Mortality, 8
JAMA Network Open (2025),
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12102701 [
https://perma.cc/9KYU-Y6YY].
[12] Another, even more equitable, approach to expanding VTC access would come from VA directly: recognizing more veterans with less-than-honorable discharges as VA-eligible. See Turned Away, supra note 9.
[13] 38 U.S.C. § 1720I (2021).
[14] Id.
[15] 38 C.F.R. § 3.360 (1978).
[16] U.S. Dep't of Veterans Affs., Vet Centers (Readjustment Counseling), Vet Center Eligibility,
https://www.vetcenter.va.gov/eligibility.asp [
https://perma.cc/FS3H-DJJS].
[17] U.S. Dep't of Veterans Affs., Veterans Treatment Courts and Other Veteran-focused Courts Served by VA Veterans Justice Outreach Specialists (Dec. 2025),
https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/docs/VJO/Veterans-Treatment-Court-Inventory-Update-Fact-Sheet-December-2025-508.pdf [
https://perma.cc/QBE2-ATZW] (In December 2025, Veterans Justice Outreach specialists served in 745 VTCs and "other Veteran-focused court programs."); Nat'l Treatment Court Res. Ctr., Treatment Courts Across US States/Territories (2025) (2026),
https://ntcrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2025_NTCRC_TreatmentCourt_Count_Table.docx [
https://perma.cc/K5AV-9TNU] (documenting 601 VTCs as of December 2025).
[18] See Sabrina S. Rapisarda, et al., Veterans Treatment Courts: A Nationwide Review of Enacting and Eligibility State Statutes, 19 Victims & Offenders 32, 48 (2024),
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11658118/ (Only 6 of 22 states with any VTC eligibility criteria in state statute make mention of discharge status.).
[19] Cal. Penal Code § 1001.80 (2025).
[20] Fla. Stat. § 394.47891(3)(d) (2026).
[21] See generally Hugh McClean, Discharged and Discarded: The Collateral Consequences of a Less-than-Honorable Military Discharge, 121 Colum. L. Rev. 2203 (2021).