Veterans Treatment Courts: A Review of Related Literature and Program Description

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[Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]
Author Note

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AGENDA
Problem Statement
1. A. Statement of the problem and its significance.
2. B. Specific objectives of proposed research.
Review
3. A. Brief review of related literature
4. B. Program description (logic model, theoretical/conceptual framework).
5. C. Research Questions and hypotheses
6. D. Operational definitions of major concepts/variables
Methods
7. A. Study design - including type of evaluation (process, outcome, or needs
8. assessment and rationale).
9. B. Sampling procedures.
10. C. Data collection sources, methods, and instruments.
11. D. Data analysis plan (Required).
12. E. Ethical considerations.
13. a. Study bias and other analyses important to minority cultural, ethnic, and racial groups,
women, gay and lesbian persons and other oppressed populations.
14. b. Provisions for protection of human subjects
Limitations
References

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PROBLEM STATEMENT
Statement of the problem and its significance
Veteran treatment courts were set up to reach to the veterans that are connected to the
criminal justice system. There are many funded ways of dealing with crime, mental illness,
trauma, and even substance abuse among the veterans in The U.S.A. as well as globally.
However, with the recent set-up of V.T.C.s (Veteran Treatment Courts), there has been a high
registration of veterans for treatment. The VTCs are specialized courts of the high courts that
deal with helping the veterans achieve full well-being of both mind and body and thus they work
in partnership with the mental health courts, domestic violence courts, and even drug courts. The
VTC jurisdictions dockets are transferred to the VTC in cases where there are veteran dockets.
Should an offending veteran opt for the VTC program, the VTCs is able to link the treatments
and services during the incarceration period. However, even with recent improvements made in
the organizations to ease the lives of veterans as they exist confinement or while still in
imprisonment, there is still few veterans requesting or trying to join the system. This has caused
the question why and what needs to be done to improve the situation. This would help in
improving the system to serve the veterans better and enroll more veterans.
Main objectives of VTC
The main aim of the VTC is to make non-traditional of the traditional criminal justice
system through provision of medicine and services. The services are inclusive and not limited to
counselling for mental health implicated clients, treatment for drug abuse and provision of
services for housing.
Specific Objectives of the VTC
 To understand the correlation between the health issues to the crime in bid

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 To fulfill the third aim which is to reduce the future crime and eliminate the
contact of crime with the system.
REVIEW
Brief review of related literature
From various research conducted, there are various issues and also needs that crop up
during military survives or even training. Taking into consideration for OIF (Operation Iraqi
Freedom), OEF ( Operation Enduring Freedom) and OND (Operation New Dawn), there has
been concern that close to 40% of the veterans who return have psychological and even
neurological injuries that are caused by post-traumatic stress disorders commonly abbreviated as
PTSD and TBI (Traumatic brain injury). There have been over 348,000 veterans who have
diagnosed with TBI. These are twice as much as the as the cases reported during the traumatic
experiences seen in the Vietnam War. In order to cope with the events that take place in wars,
many of the veterans have been known to ingest drugs beyond the recommended dosages and
even abuse narcotics and illegal drugs. There are over 40% of veterans who suffer from
alcoholism and the cases have increased over time.
Causes of Mental Health Disorders (PTSD)
With increase in PTSD cases, the higher the rates of drug abuse. Many people suffering
from mental illnesses have been documented to evade health facility care and opting to self-
medicate so as to keep recognition away from themselves. More to that, there is an array of
choices of signature substances which is the abuse of opioids to gather with alcohol that has been
notably seen amongst OIF/OEF/ OND veterans together with the military personnel. These
events and life choices will eventually lead the veteran to unemployment, incarceration,
homelessness and even suicide. The consequential events are usually co-related and cause