Waging War on Recidivism Among Justice

Problem solving courts have increasingly been adopted by jurisdictions around the country as an alternative to traditional criminal court models of justice. Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) are a type of problem-solving court being established all over the country in response to an increased number of justice-involved veterans with the return of military personnel from the Wars in the Middle East. Despite their rapid expansion, there is a dearth of research evaluating the impact of VTCs on recidivism. The current study conducted an impact evaluation regarding recidivism among participants of a large urban VTC program. Findings from descriptive and multivariate analysis reveal positive results for VTC participants, especially graduates, in comparison with the control group. Implications are discussed in context of three areas: (a) current criminal justice policy and practice implications for VTCs, (b) findings from research on other more established problem-solving courts (i.e., drug courts), and (c) research–practitioner partnerships