BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 201
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2011
Counsel: Milena Nelson
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
AB 201 (Butler) - As Introduced: January 27, 2011
SUMMARY : Authorizes superior courts to develop and implement
veterans courts. Specifically, this bill:
1)States that the objective of the veterans courts are:
a) Increase cooperation between the courts, criminal
justice, veterans, and substance abuse programs;
b) Create a dedicated calendar or a locally developed
collaborative court-supervised veterans mental health
program or system that will lead to placement of as many
mentally ill offenders who are veterans of the United
States military, including those with post-traumatic stress
disorders, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma,
substance abuse, or any mental health problem stemming from
United States military service, in community treatment, as
is feasible and consistent with public safety;
c) Improve access to necessary services and support;
d) Reduce recidivism; and,
e) Reduce involvement of veterans in the criminal justice
system and time in jail by making mental health service for
veterans available in the least restrictive environment
possible while promoting public safety.
2)States that the veterans court may have the following
characteristics:
a) Leadership by a superior court judicial officer assigned
by the presiding judge;
b) Enhanced accountability by combining judicial
supervision with rehabilitation service that are rigorously
AB 201
Page 2
monitored and focused on recovery;
c) A problem solving focus;
d) A team approach to decision-making:
e) Integration of social and treatment services;
f) Judicial supervision of the treatment process, as
appropriate;
g) Community outreach efforts; and,
h) Direct interaction between defendant and judicial
officer.
3)Suggests guidelines for creating veterans courts, including:
a) One stakeholder should be a veteran who is a criminal
justice client and has experience with mental illness;
b) The method by which the veterans court ensures that the
target population of defendants are identified and referred
to the veterans court;
c) The method for assessing defendants who are veterans for
serious mental illness and co-occurring disorders;
d) Eligibility criteria specifying what factors make the
defendant eligible to participate in the veterans court,
including service in the United States military, the
amenability of the defendant to treatment and the facts of
the case, as well as prior criminal history, United States
military service history, and mental health and substance
abuse treatment history;
e) The elements of the treatment and supervision programs;
f) Standards for continuing participation in, and
successful completion of, the veterans court program;
g) The need for all service providers and stakeholders to
receive initial and ongoing training from county
departments and community stakeholders with specialized
knowledge about veterans' treatment and service needs, such
AB 201
Page 3
as the county health department, county veterans officers,
county drug and alcohol department, and Veterans
Administration partners, and the need to provide initial
and ongoing training for designated staff on the nature of
serious mental illness and on the treatment and supportive
services available in the community;
h) The process to ensure defendants will receive the
appropriate level of treatment series with emphasis on
maximizing federally funded services from the Veterans
Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as
well as the county and other local mental health and
substance abuse treatment services to the extent that
resources are available for that purpose, as specified;
i) The process for developing or modifying a treatment plan
for each defendant, based on a formal assessment of the
defendant's mental health, United States military service
history, and substance abuse treatment needs.
Participation in the veterans court shall require
defendants to complete the recommended treatment plan, and
comply with any other terms and conditions that optimizes
the likelihood that the defendant completes the program;
j) The process for referring cases to the veterans court;
and,
aa) The defendant's voluntary entry into the veterans court,
and the process for explaining these rights to the
defendant.
4)Suggests that each veterans court team, led by a judicial
officer include a judicial officer to preside over the court,
a prosecutor, a public defender, a county mental health
liaison, a substance abuse liaison, a county veterans' service
officer, a probation officer, and a Veterans Administration
social worker to assist the court with screening veterans
court candidates for eligibility and suitability in Veterans
Administration funded programs. This team shall determine the
frequency of ongoing reviews of the progress of the offender
in community treatment in order to ensure the offender adheres
to the treatment plan as recommended, remains in treatment,
and completes treatment.
5)States legislative intent that a veterans court judge use a
AB 201
Page 4
variety of options for carrying out the goal to ensure
long-term public safety by maximizing the opportunities for
veterans with psychological war wounds to get timely and
appropriate treatment. States legislative intent in enacting
this section to augment rather than replace other sections
within this code. The judicial officer has a variety of tools
available to reach these goals and shall exercise discretion
and use all tools available to ensure public safety and assist
defendants to successfully complete appropriate treatment for
the problems underlying their offenses. Where there are
statutory requirements for certain education or counseling
programs to be included in the terms of probation, the
components of these offense-specific counseling terms shall be
incorporated into the treatment programs that are designed to
treat the underlying psychological disorders rather than
required in lieu of the psychological treatments. This
holistic approach ensures that the priority underlying offense
is treated and that offense-specific education and counseling
aims are met.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides that in the case of any person convicted of a
criminal offense who would otherwise be sentenced to county
jail or state prison and who alleges that he or she committed
the offense as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), substance abuse, or psychological problems stemming
from service in a combat theater in the United States
military, the court shall, prior to sentencing, hold a hearing
to determine whether the defendant was a member of the
military forces of the United States who served in combat and
shall assess whether the defendant suffers from PTSD,
substance abuse, or psychological problems as a result of that
service. ÝPenal Code Section 1170.9(a).]
2)States that if the court concludes that a defendant convicted
of a criminal offense was a member of the military forces of
the United States suffering from PTSD, substance abuse, or
psychological problems stemming from service in a combat
theater and if the defendant is otherwise eligible for
probation and the court places the defendant on probation, the
court may order the defendant into a local; state; federal; or
private, non-profit treatment program for a period not to
exceed that which the defendant would have served in state
prison or county jail, provided the defendant agrees to
AB 201
Page 5
participate in the program and the court determines that an
appropriate treatment program exists. ÝPenal Code Section
1170.9(b).]
3)Obligates counties to provide mental health treatment services
to members of the military forces of the United States
suffering from PTSD, substance abuse, or psychological
problems stemming from service in a combat theater only to the
extent that resources are available for that purpose. If
mental health treatment services are ordered by the court, the
county mental health agency shall coordinate appropriate
referral of the defendant to the county veterans service
officer. The county mental health agency shall not be
responsible for providing services outside its traditional
scope of services. An order shall be made referring a
defendant to a county mental health agency only if that agency
has agreed to accept responsibility for the treatment of the
defendant. ÝPenal Code Section 1170.9(c).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "AB 201 will
promote the development of Veterans' Courts throughout the
state by strongly encouraging the Judicial Council to develop
practices and identify resources for the purposes of
facilitating veterans' courts in counties. In addition, this
bill strongly encourages the Judicial Council to develop a
compendium of resources to assist all collaborative courts to
understand the unique circumstances that affect veterans."
2)Incarcerated Veterans : A study conducted by the University of
California, San Francisco and the San Francisco Veterans
Affairs Medical Center has shown that approximately one-third
of veterans returning from Iraq received one or more mental
health or psychosocial diagnoses. ÝSee Mental Illness Appears
Common among Veterans Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan,
Science Daily (Mar. 13, 2007)
(as of Mar. 23, 2009).] Another study
reported in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that
the rate of PTSD among veterans of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan increased in a linear manner with increased
exposure to combat. ÝSee generally, Hoge, M.D., Combat Duty
AB 201
Page 6
in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers
to Care (2004) 351 N. Engl. J. Med., pp. 13-22.] Studies also
indicate that PTSD may result in drug and alcohol abuse by
veterans. ÝSee Stress & Substance Abuse: A Special Report,
National Institute on Drug Abuse (Sept. 12, 2005)
(as of March 23, 2009).]
Three-quarters of veterans in state prisons reported past drug
use and one-quarter reported being on drugs at the time of the
offense for which they were incarcerated. ÝNoonan & Mumola,
U.S. Dep't of Just., Veterans in State and Federal Prison,
2004 (2007) p. 5.] ÝSee also Coté, Military vet charged with
pharmacy holdups blames drug addiction, San Francisco
Chronicle (Sep. 3, 2007) (detailing the experience of an
Bosnia veteran who reports a prescription painkiller addiction
from a broken hip while in the military, and post-traumatic
stress disorder as a result of his combat experience, and the
substandard quality of military medical care, which he says
led to his arrest for the holdups of two pharmacies).]
Providing meaningful mental health treatment has been shown to
significantly reduce recidivism rates, with studies showing
decreases of over 20%. ÝAos, Wash. State Inst. For Pub.
Pol'y, Evidence-Based Policy Options to Reduce Future Prison
Construction, Criminal Justice Costs, and Crime Rates (2006).]
Likewise, studies have shown a reduction of more than 6% in
recidivism rates where meaningful chemical dependency services
are provided to prisoners. (Id. at pp. 3, 19.) Chemical
dependency treatment has also been shown to decrease, at least
in the short term, the probability of alcohol dependency by
15% and drug dependency by 22%. (Id. at p.4.)
3)Previous Legislation :
a) AB 1925 (Salas), of the 2009-10 Legislative Session,
would have authorized superior courts to develop and
implement pre-guilty plea programs, deferred entry of
judgment programs, and/or post-guilty plea veterans court
programs. AB 1925 was vetoed.
b) AB 674 (Salas), Chapter 347, Statutes of 2010, allows a
court to order a defendant who suffers from sexual trauma,
traumatic brain injury, PTSD, substance abuse, or mental
health problems as a result of military service into a
AB 201
Page 7
treatment program or veteran's court for a period not to
exceed that which the defendant would have served in state
prison or jail.
c) AB 1013 (Block), of the 2009-10 Legislative Session,
would have required CDCR to conduct interdisciplinary
assessments of new inmates who are veterans and to develop
a specialized treatment protocol which includes PTSD. AB
1013 was held in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
d) SB 851 (Steinberg), of the 2007-08 Legislative Session,
would have authorized superior courts to develop and
implement mental health courts, which may operate as a
pre-guilty plea program, a deferred entry of judgment
program, and/or a parolee mental health court program. SB
851 was vetoed.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Psychological Association
California Psychiatric Association
California Public Defenders Association
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Milena Nelson / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744