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Oklahoma is home to over 329,000 veterans; over
47,000 of them reside in Tulsa County alone. With
such a concentrated population, the courts were seeing
an increase in arrests of veterans—an average
now of 300 a month, up from 150 in 2008. That's one
of the reasons Tulsa District Court Judge
Sarah Day Smith worked with Veterans Affairs
to start a court for nonviolent felons in December
2008 with 38 eligible offenders. Now less than two
years later, the court
is a model throughout the nation.
Veterans Courts are modeled after the therapeutic
court system, where eligible offenders are offered
rehabilitation as an alternative to prison. The Tulsa
court is a five-phase process that takes a minimum
of 2 years to complete. So far, 10 offenders have
successfully completed their programs, and program
director Rose Ewing was recently
named to the National
Drug Court Hall of Fame for her work with the Tulsa
Drug Court, Tulsa DUI Program, the Special Needs
docket, the Mental Health Court and Veterans Treatment
Court. The court itself has been recognized for its
work in the rehabilitation of offenders.
For more information about Veterans Treatment
Courts, visit
the links below.
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