Training program created to establish a veterans court

Staff report

Youngstown

Judge Robert P. Milich of Youngstown Municipal Court and a Veterans’ Treatment Court team have completed a training program in preparation for establishing a veteran’s court here in January.

The 10-member team, assigned the task of developing Veterans’ Treatment Court in Youngstown, was one of the 10 groups from the United States in training in Buffalo, N.Y., in a program provided with the help of a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, in collaboration with the National Drug Court Institute. Buffalo is the site of the first veterans’ treatment court in the nation, established in 2008.

“The veterans court is a court for veterans,” said Judge Milich, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. The next meeting for establishing a Veterans’ Treatment Court in Youngstown Municipal Court is set for 2:30 p.m. Nov. 9. The public is invited, and veterans are needed to serve as volunteer mentors.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton is the liaison between the Veterans Administration and the Ohio courts. Her goal is to have a veterans treatment court in every court jurisdiction. She was instrumental in getting the initiative under way in Youngstown.

The goal of veterans-treatment courts is to successfully habilitate veterans by diverting them from the traditional criminal-justice system, and providing them drug and mental-health treatment to become productive and law-abiding citizens. Veterans court provides assistance to veterans suffering from substance abuse, alcoholism, mental-health issues and emotional disabilities.

Veterans with identified needs are referred to the appropriate agencies such as the Veterans Health Administration and Veterans Service Commission. Veterans-treatment courts, with the assistance of volunteer veteran mentors, require the support of local law enforcement, prosecutors and local mental-health and substance-abuse treatment agencies.