'Veterans court' is opened in Queens County

A growing movement to establish special courts to divert veterans guilty of less serious crimes away from jails and into treatment programs took another step forward yesterday with the opening of a "veterans court" for Queens County.

In veterans courts, defendants who plead guilty to lesser offenses avoid jail time if they agree to submit to court-supervised treatment for problems that may have put them afoul of the law. Trained personnel guide nonviolent defendants toward treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder or other combat-related problems and address such issues as homelessness or substance abuse.

"They have proven their effectiveness time and time again," Queens Supreme Court Presiding Judge Fernando Camacho told an audience during the court's inaugural session at the criminal courthouse in Kew Gardens. "It's not only a smart move, it's the right thing to do."

Suffolk County is in the final stages of establishing its own veterans court, which is expected to open in January, according to a spokeswoman for Suffolk County Administrative Judge H. Patrick Leis III.

Most New York counties already have courts for cases involving petty drug crimes, mental health or family issues, said Sol Wachtler, the former chief judge of the Court of Appeals, who now heads the Law and Psychiatry Institute of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

He said an estimated 200,000 Vietnam veterans ended up in jails in the decades after the war, many for issues related to substance abuse.

Last year, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice launched the Veterans Project, under which former military personnel are identified as veterans when they enter the county's criminal justice system. So far a separate veterans court has not been established.

Calls and e-mails seeking comment Tuesday from Rice's office were not returned.

Veterans courts have been springing up across the country since Jan. 1, 2009, when acting Erie County Court Judge Robert Russell opened the nation's first, in Buffalo. It has handled about 185 cases, Russell said, and none of the more than 40 veterans whose cases have been disposed of has been re-arrested.

"We work to capitalize on what will stabilize veterans and keep them stable," Russell said.

Patrick Clayton of Valley Stream, who supervises the mentoring program for the new Queens Veterans Court, said the court handled its first three veterans Monday. Five more defendants are scheduled for hearings in the coming weeks, Clayton said, including a Vietnam veteran from Freeport.

"We saw what happened to veterans who returned home from Vietnam," said Clayton, who is a petty officer 2nd class in the Naval Reserve. "We don't want that to happen to Iraq or Afghanistan vets."