For Immediate Release Steve Sanson President of Veterans In Politics International 702 283 8088 US Marine “Desert Storm” War Veteran Juan Rivera Member of Veterans In Politics International 702 767 9048 US Marine “Iraqi Freedom” War Veteran Veterans Court endorsed by Veterans In Politics International “Military Veterans are trained to be extremely aggressive, especially those that have served in combat” Las Vegas NevadaIn 2009 former Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley sponsored Assembly Bill (AB) 187 this bill is to address the needs for our veterans within the judicial system. AB 187 is to provide treatment to the veteran instead of incarceration when a veteran is charged with a nonviolent crime while they make that adjustment to civilian life. AB 187 mirrors the veteran court in Buffalo New York; the court shall identify the defendant if they are a veteran of the United States military, place the veteran in a treatment program and after successful completion of the program seal the veteran’s court records. Our government has trained our military to survive in combat and to defeat the enemy at all cost. Our government has trained our military to never surrender. The members of our military that served in combat had to make life and death decisions, they have seen hell on earth. It is hard for civilians to wrap their minds around the idea that just because a veteran has not lost a limb or received a purple heart that does not mean they do not have something psychologically wrong with them. Sometimes our veteran’s bandage these memories with drugs, alcohol, as well as other reckless behaviors. A large portion of our Marines and Soldiers have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. During the early years of combat PTSD was called Soldiers Hawk, Combat Fatigue, or the Vietnam Syndrome. Our nation’s government needs to take a stand when it comes to our military veterans. A veteran’s court needs to be established in every State, County, and City across our nation. We need to take care of our soldiers properly. The Veterans In Politics understands that our state is suffering from a budget deficit and a specialty court such as this may cost additional funding. The President of Veterans In Politics sent a mass e-mail contacting every judge, district attorney, commissioner, and city council within the state of Nevada in an effort to give them another choice to establish a system to provide a similar treatment for our veterans. The following e-mail was sent: Veterans In Politics writes to request that the Court offer alternative sentencing to veterans and members of the military alternative in appropriate criminal cases. We reference you to the attached NRS 176A.280 et. seq., "Establishment of program for treatment of veterans and members of the military, assignment of defendant to program; progress reports." While we acknowledge that the establishment of a Veterans Court is discretionary and funding is unlikely at this time, we believe that we can achieve the same result of helping veterans and members of the military whose legal troubles are linked to service-related alcohol, drug or mental health issues without incurring the costs of establishing a specialty court and still keep nonviolent offenders out of jail. Specifically, we request that you withhold adjudication or order a submittal on the record where a veteran or member of the military "appears to suffer mental illness, alcohol or drug abuse or post traumatic stress disorder, any of which appear to be related to military service...." NRS 176A.285 (2) (b). We request that instead of sentencing the offender to pay a fine, perform community service, a suspended sentence or jail time, that you order he or she to attend counseling through the (VA) Veterans Administration. We are working with the VA to expand their treatment program for this purpose and request a joint meeting to discuss the programs that currently exist as well as additional programs that can be implemented. Only if the offender fails to successfully complete the VA treatment program will he or she be given the traditional sentencing. We seek this solution because our veterans and members of the military need our assistance. Three out of four veterans are homeless in Clark County, the highest rate in the United States. Veterans and members of the military often are unable to return to civilian life because of their combat experience or even because of the disciplined culture of the military. The current traditional sentencing sets veterans and military members up for failure because they can neither affords the private counseling services nor successfully completes community service. As a consequence, the courts, eventually, have had no option but to impose jail time upon the failure to fully complete the traditional sentencing requirements. As such, we offer this proposal to assist the Courts in alleviating the burden that veterans and members of the military impose on our criminal justice system as well as in the hope of rehabilitating our veteran and military members to rejoin society as responsible citizens. Veterans In Politics looks forward to working with you to develop and implement an acceptable alternative treatment program for members of the military and veterans at no cost to the Court or the County. For additional information contact: http://www.veteransinpolitics.us.com/joomla/
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