The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in partnership with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), collaborated on a survey of Veterans Treatment Courts. It is critical for the success of NIC, our federal partners, and the field to foster collaborative relationships and to share information with each other in order to make informed decisions about policy and practice, and to develop best practices.

We are asking for your assistance to help us understand how Veterans Treatment Courts (VTC) across the country are documenting their effectiveness. For justice-involved veterans, VTC’s are providing a pathway to recovery so that they can be restored to functioning and contributing members of society. VTC’s provide hope, restore families, and save lives. The first VTC, founded in 2008 in Buffalo, New York, has inspired the creation of more than 220 similar courts - both large and small- across the country. Hundreds more are in various stages of planning and implementation. As VTC’s are still being developed, we don’t know a great deal about them.

If you are the key person in your VTC program who develops and reports on metrics and progress with your program, please complete this survey. If you are not that person, but know who it, please provide their contact information so we can forward the survey to the appropriate individual.

About the Survey: The intent of this survey is to gather current data from existing Veterans Treatment Court Programs on performance and outcome measures. These measures are critical to justify programs and ensure long-term funding and program sustainability. This information would be used for the following:

• Identify standard measures being utilized across the country and make this information available to the field as a potential resource;
• Demonstrate the success of Veterans Treatment Courts as an effective intervention and alternative to incarceration; and
• Help inform our future work for Veterans specific initiatives.

As part of the survey process, we plan to have inclusive e-mail back and forth dialogue with participants based on input from this initial survey to hone in on successful practices, standard measures and findings of benefit for Veterans. We plan to share findings from this survey, and any new questions that emerge, with all the responding participants. We will also share draft and final reports with participants also so you can glean benefits from this work for your VTCs. We look forward to your survey responses and hope you and your colleagues share your experiences and thoughts with us.

Download the Treatment Court Survey

Mouse Over the Document and Scroll