BEDFORD – The Lawrence County Commissioners approved several requests to apply for grants.
Chief Probation Officer at Lawrence County Probation Nedra Brock Fleetwood and Probation Officers Chad Shew requested to apply for two grants from the Indiana Department of Justice. One grant is for $60,000 for the Lawrence County Veterans Court.
The court model requires regular court appearances, as well as mandatory attendance at treatment sessions, and frequent and random testing for drug and alcohol use. Veterans respond favorably to this structured environment, given their past experiences in the Armed Forces. However, a few will struggle, and it is exactly those veterans who need a veterans treatment court program the most. Without this structure, these veterans will re-offend and remain in the criminal justice system.
According to statistics, one in five veterans has symptoms of a mental health disorder or cognitive impairment. One in six veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom suffer from a substance use issue. Research continues to draw a link between substance use and combat-related mental illness. Left untreated, mental health disorders common among veterans can directly lead to involvement in the criminal justice system.
Veterans treatment courts allow jurisdictions to serve a large segment of the justice-involved veteran population as opposed to business as usual: having all veterans appear before random judges who may or may not have an understanding of their unique experiences and issues. Because a veterans treatment court judge handles numerous veterans’ cases and is supported by a strong, interdisciplinary team, he or she is in a much better position to exercise discretion and effectively respond than a judge who only occasionally hears a case involving a veteran defendant.
Judge Bob Cline who presides over the court says a veterans treatment court judge better understands the issues that a veteran may be struggling with, such as substance addiction, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, or military sexual trauma.
The commissioners also approved a request to apply for a $60,000 Indiana Department of Justice grant for the pretrial initiative program.
Indiana’s pretrial initiative seeks to support the implementation of a risk-informed pretrial system that will maximize release, court appearance, and public safety. The risk-assessment program determines whether people who have been arrested should be required to post bail while awaiting trial or can be released to another program and determines the likelihood the inmates will return to court for hearings or re-offend during the pretrial period.
Evaluators provide risk scores based on an individual’s criminal history and outcomes of the Indiana Risk Assessment System-Pretrial Assessment Tool. Judges use those scores to decide whether to reduce bonds or allow defendants to be released on their own recognizance or to house arrest.
Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day requested to apply for a $76,000 grant from the Department of Justice. This is a matching grant and will be used to purchase officer body cameras.
