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Evaluating the Need for Greater Federal Resources to Establish Veterans Courts Hearing Committee on the Judiciary United States

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Evaluating the Need for Greater Federal Resources to Establish Veterans Courts Hearing Committee on the Judiciary United States S. HRG. 111–589 EVALUATING THE NEED FOR GREATER FEDERAL RESOURCES TO ESTABLISH VETERANS COURTS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME AND DRUGS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MARCH 1, 2010 Serial No. J–111–78 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 58–005 PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:06 Sep 23, 2010 Jkt 058005 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\58005.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman HERB KOHL, Wisconsin JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York JON KYL, Arizona RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JOHN CORNYN, Texas SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island TOM COBURN, Oklahoma AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania AL FRANKEN, Minnesota BRUCE A. COHEN, Chief Counsel and Staff Director MATT MINER, Republican Chief Counsel SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME AND DRUGS ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman HERB KOHL, Wisconsin LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois TOM COBURN, Oklahoma BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware HANNIBAL KEMERER, Democratic Chief Counsel WALT KUHN, Republican Chief Counsel (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:06 Sep 23, 2010 Jkt 058005 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\58005.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Page Specter, Hon. Arlen, a U.S. Senator from the State of Pennsylvania ................. 1 WITNESSES Altmire, Hon. Jason, a Representative in Congress from the State of Pennsyl- vania ...................................................................................................................... 2 Danny, Michael, Veteran Participant, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ....................... 12 McCaffery, Seamus, Supreme Court Justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ................................................................................. 5 Mercer, Al, Executive Director, Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ........................................................... 10 Moreland, Michael E., Network Director of Veterans, Integrated Service Net- work 4, Veterans Administration, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ........................... 9 Murphy, Hon. Tim, a Representative in Congress from the State of Pennsyl- vania ...................................................................................................................... 3 Zottola, John A., Judge, Criminal Division, Court of Common Pleas of West- ern Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ..................................................... 7 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Kerry, Hon. John F., a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts, pre- pared statement ................................................................................................... 25 Mercer, Al, Executive Director, Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, statement ........................................ 26 Moreland, Michael E., Network Director of Veterans, Integrated Service Net- work 4, Veterans Administration, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, statement ........ 59 Zottola, John A., Judge, Criminal Division, Court of Common Pleas of West- ern Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, statement .................................. 62 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:06 Sep 23, 2010 Jkt 058005 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\58005.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:06 Sep 23, 2010 Jkt 058005 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\58005.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC EVALUATING THE NEED FOR GREATER FED- ERAL RESOURCES TO ESTABLISH VET- ERANS COURTS MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME AND DRUGS, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Pittsburgh, PA The Committee met, Pursuant to notice, at 10:26 a.m., Court- room 6A, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsyl- vania, Hon. Arlen Specter (Chairman of the Subcommittee) pre- siding. Also present: Representative Jason Altmire, Representative Tim Murphy. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ARLEN SPECTER, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA Senator SPECTER. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Ju- diciary Committee Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Drugs will now proceed with the hearing on veterans courts. I thank my distinguished colleagues, Representative Jason Alt- mire and Representative Tim Murphy, for joining me here today, making them ex-officio Senators, ex-officio members of the Judici- ary Committee’s subcommittee. And may the record show the un- usual circumstance of having a Democrat and a Republican in the same field hearing. We are taking up today the issue of veterans courts, which is an innovation, having started in—and being in operation in Allegheny County. It has the imprimatur of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania. We have a very distinguished panel. Justice Seamus McCaffery is with us today. He’s had a very illustrious career. In the good old days when I was District Attorney, Officer McCaffery was with the Philadelphia Police Department. In—serving in Philadelphia—more complicated—official positions. Judge John Zottola is now the presiding judge on the veterans court in Allegheny County, Common Pleas. He has a very distin- guished record of being Assistant DA and he administered the court involving mental illness, and now is handling the court for veterans, in recognition of the need, really, to have a little special- ized treatment when veterans have problems with post-traumatic stress syndrome, coming back from Iraq and back from Afghani- stan, and from prior conflicts. (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:06 Sep 23, 2010 Jkt 058005 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\HEARINGS\58005.TXT SJUD1 PsN: CMORC 2 Some issues have arisen as to whether veterans are entitled to this kind of elite treatment, special treatment. Some raise a ques- tion about it. My own view is that we owe a great debt to the vet- erans that we haven’t begun to repay. I look back to my own child- hood, when my father, Harry Specter, who was a veteran of World War I. The veterans of World War I—veterans had a march on Washington—speech—speaking of—since I haven’t gotten it yet, I’m still waiting for—so we really have a great deal to pay our vet- erans. We have with us today Mr. Al Mercer, the executive director of the Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, who provides housing, employment, and other supportive services to veterans. We have with us Mr. Michael Danny, a 46-year-old Viet- nam, having served in the Marines for more than 4 years. We have Michael Moreland, from the Veterans Administration, a very dis- tinguished administrator who has sat at this table as a witness in the past. Now I’ll turn to my distinguished colleague, Representative Jason Altmire. STATEMENT OF HON. JASON ALTMIRE, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA Representative ALTMIRE. Thank you, Senator. It’s good to see you and Representative Murphy. We have a bicameral, bipartisan dele- gation here, and that shows the importance of this issue. This is something that Pennsylvania has taken the lead in, due to the great work of Justice McCaffery and Judge Zottola and the others involved in this. I really appreciate you all being here to help tell the story. What this field hearing is about is using the lessons that we’ve learned in the short time that we’ve done this in Pennsylvania and apply those across the country and hopefully grow this program, because we’re talking about veterans who have experienced trau- ma, and acknowledging the unique circumstances that go into treating that trauma. When they find themselves, due to cir- cumstances, in the criminal justice system, we need to find a way to recognize the unique circumstances that we’re involved in in their treatment through veterans’ programs. We’re going to reduce recidivism, which is critically important, and we’re going to save taxpayers money by recognizing the unique factors that go into play. This is nothing that we can’t do in an ef- fective way, but we have to understand that the veterans deserve this. This is a program that’s critically important, but this is by no means a freebie. This is something that veterans are going to be held accountable, they’re going to be assigned a mentor, and they’re going to have to go through, in some cases, some treatment. This is where accountability is the key here. But finding a way to recognize the uniqueness of their cir- cumstances, especially the combat-wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, and applying those lessons to that population to keep them out of the criminal justice system in the future and save tax- payers money. So I’m excited to hear the testimony of our wit- nesses, and look forward to taking those lessons back to Wash- VerDate Nov 24 2008 09:06 Sep 23, 2010 Jkt 058005 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt
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