ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the development of the problem-solving court (PSC) movement as a response to the revolving-door relationship between the criminal justice system and special offender types. Attention is paid to therapeutic jurisprudence as particularly relevant to the evolution of PSCs. After the first PSC, a drug court was established in Miami, Florida in 1989, multiple types of PSCs emerged. Veterans treatment courts (VTCs), which appeared in the mid-2000s, are just one of the many newer programs addressing the various treatment and psychosocial needs of justice-involved veterans. The chapter outlines the debate over the appropriateness of VTCs and foreshadows subsequent discussion of issues such as the potential for net-widening, stigmatization, due process, and whether VTCs unfairly provide special treatment to a subset of arrested persons.
