WHAT IS VET COURT?

The Shelby County Veterans’ Court provides a means to divert eligible veteran participants from the traditional criminal justice system and provide them support and rehabilitation through comprehensive substance abuse and/or mental health treatment; education; vocational programs; and community resource referrals for housing, childcare, and transportation, all while being judicially monitored.

When a Veteran is identified at the time of a criminal booking in Shelby County, he or she may be referred to Veterans' Court to be assessed for eligibility in a rehabilitation plan.

Upon completion of a personalized and closely-supervised Court program typically lasting two years, the Veteran may graduate and, if deemed appropriate by the Court, have the criminal charges expunged.

Implemented in 2012, it is the first and largest Veterans’ Treatment Court in the State of Tennessee. The Court requires complete commitment from participants, and has a single-digit recidivism rate.

Find out more on the court's website at https://veteranscourt.shelbycountytn.gov/about-us.

Hon. William “Bill” Anderson Jr., Presiding Judge of Shelby County Veterans' Court says,

"Veterans treatment courts across the country work. They take people out of the jail system which is what they are designed to do. They rehabilitate them and get them back to where they were before they came in.

We are just taking a segment of people that I think deserve more attention, who have earned more attention for their service to our country. They earned what they deserve, what they fought for. They are in the right to live the good life in the United States. To be happy."

See 2018 Article in Commercial Appeal

SHELBY COUNTY VETERANS' COURT FOUNDATION

WHAT IS VET COURT?

Hon. William “Bill” Anderson Jr., Presiding Judge of Shelby County Veterans' Court says,

"Veterans treatment courts across the country work. They take people out of the jail system which is what they are designed to do. They rehabilitate them and get them back to where they were before they came in.

​

We are just taking a segment of people that I think deserve more attention, who have earned more attention for their service to our country. They earned what they deserve, what they fought for. They are in the right to live the good life in the United States. To be happy."