The purpose of this research is to investigate Veterans Treatment Courts’ (VTCs) operation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March of 2020, there have been efforts to transition to a virtual world to guarantee criminal defendants their rights in court during this public health crisis. While many courts had to adapt to the changing conditions due to COVID-19, little is known about what these changes looked like for VTCs, if they varied from court to court, and whether these changes were successful. Through a nationwide survey of VTC courtroom actors such as judges, program coordinators, and Veterans Justice Outreach Specialists, we examine how VTCs’ day-to-day operations changed during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as program retention and participants’ success in the treatment program during a public health emergency. We discuss VTCs’ lessons learned to inform other VTCs and specialty courts about best practices for continuing operations.

本研究的目的是调查退伍军人治疗法庭 (VTC) 在 COVID-19 大流行期间的运作情况。自 2020 年 3 月以来，人们一直在努力过渡到虚拟世界，以保障刑事被告在这场公共卫生危机期间在法庭上的权利。尽管许多法院必须适应因 COVID-19 造成的不断变化的情况，但人们对这些变化对于 VTC 的影响、各个法院是否有所不同以及这些变化是否成功，知之甚少。通过对法官、项目协调员和退伍军人司法外展专家等 VTC 法庭参与者进行的全国范围调查，我们研究了 VTC 在 COVID-19 大流行期间的日常运作如何变化，以及项目保留和参与者在突发公共卫生事件期间的治疗计划。我们讨论 VTC 的经验教训，以便向其他 VTC 和专业法院通报持续运营的最佳实践。