Support for Service Providers > Homeless Court and Legal Issues
Homeless Court and Legal Issues
Speakers:
Office of the San Diego Public Defender – Steve Binder
The Law Offices of Judith A. Litzenberger – Jude Litzenberger
Veterans Village of San Diego – Charles Lyles
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans – Melanie Lilliston
Melanie Lilliston, NCHV
- Welcome/Introduction
- Notes from call will be posted on www.nchv.org
- Question and Answer session following presentations
- NCHV has worked with Steve Binder over past 3-4 years on Homeless Court initiative
Steve Binder, Office of the San Diego Public Defender
- Been in San Diego since 1988
- Coming upon 20th anniversary at Stand Down, July 11-13, 2008
- Invitation for callers to come to San Diego to participate in Homeless Court workshops at Stand Down sponsored by NCHV and ABA (click here for more information); NCHV Annual Conference will feature session on Homeless Court Program (HCP) and legal issues
Jude Litzenberger, The Law Offices of Judith A. Litzenberger
- Retired Navy commander
- Local attorney in San Diego; practice primarily in military law, help to local military families
- Began volunteering with Homeless Court in 2002
Charles Lyles, Veterans Village of San Diego
- Been working with Veterans Village since 2005
- Have two homeless courts in the area
- In Marine Corps for ten years
Steve Binder, Office of the San Diego Public Defender
- Cover two issues during call: HCP at Stand Down and developing legal response to returning veterans who are facing criminal charges
- HCP started in 1989 as response to homeless veterans who were interviewed by VA at first Stand Down; 116 of 500 veterans indicated that greatest need was help with outstanding warrants
- Clients are looking for access to court services
- Example: Individual was issued citation for blocking trolley; provided with services where he admitted that jumping in front of trolley was suicide attempt
- Homeless veterans being issued Illegal Lodging citations: community’s response to getting order on the streets; pushes veterans further outside of society by leaving them homeless and with criminal charges to bear
- Following through on citation orders is not easily accomplished
- Homeless Court is special session of Superior Court; held outside under camo netting; real court clerks and dockets; orders made at court proceeding are final and enforceable as though held in traditional court setting
- Core principles of HC: participation is voluntary; fines and custody threats are satisfied by participation in program activities
- Activities include attending Post-Traumatic Stress, looking for a job, other counseling, taking care of medical needs/health issues in VA tent
- Agreement worked out with prosecution acknowledges vast majority of offenses that clients receive are public nuisance offenses that they would not have been issued except for status/condition of being homeless
- Participation in programs leads to dismissal of 90% of cases that appear before court
- Conviction serves as obstacle to individual’s further reintegration into community
- Core principle: Clients show proof of their accomplishments when they stand before court; informs court of client’s work done to merit dismissal of case
- Key measure that makes efforts successful is advanced planning that goes into court session; sharing of information from key players, both criminal justice practitioners (i.e. prosecution, defense, judge, court clerks) and service providers
- Service providers are deemed equal and vital partners in HC process; build up trust with homeless veterans
Jude Litzenberger, The Law Offices of Judith A. Litzenberger
- Became involved with HC out of sense of military duty and because brother is homeless
- Was invited by Binder to join public defenders during HC proceedings at Stand Down
- Importance of building rapport with veterans and showing them respect
- Processing system affects what benefits veterans will receive later in life
- With Binder, created counseling training for military attorneys at Stand Down events
- Trial counsel and reservists are involved in HC at Stand Down; asked to come to court in uniform to build rapport with homeless veterans
- Importance of personalizing sentence by getting to know veterans; spend 30-40 minutes talking with client (how individual became homeless, challenges, etc.)
- Rekindle positive feelings about their service and military days
Charles Lyles, Veterans Village of San Diego
- Stand Down: any homeless veteran can participate; pre-registration process (question asked if veteran has any outstanding warrants or needs legal services)
- If client checks “yes,” information is given to county clerks; clerks pull information so when client shows up for court, deal or agreement may be made
- Example of Vietnam veteran who participated in HC: had epiphany during HC session; as result, has reconciled with family, received custody of his son, working for the VA, and moved into first apartment after 16 years of being homeless
- HC allows veterans to remove barriers that prevent them from getting off the streets
- Clients earn privilege to participate in HC
- HC programs often exceed what courts demand of clients (anger management classes, drug and alcohol treatment, mental health counseling)
Steve Binder, Office of the San Diego Public Defender
- Community partners needed to help build this effort
- When Stand Down began, addressed misdemeanor offenses
- During second or third year of Stand Down, several participants had offenses in outlying jurisdictions; bulk of cases were in South Bay; veterans did not want to take care of offenses, fearing they would not be treated as well as they were at Stand Down
- A large group of veterans went to South Bay to addresses their offenses; this caused outlying jurisdictions and district attorney to become involved in Stand Down
- Find individual in community to help lead that charge in establishing HC
- Upcoming HC training sessions at Stand Down; location: San Diego High School, 1405 Park Blvd.
- Friday: Counseling individuals; meet criminal justice practitioners
- Saturday: Court on site
- Sunday: Training for creating HC
- Challenge of returning veterans
- Example: Veteran returned after serving three tours of Iraq; had two DUIs and suspended license; enrolled in HC program; continued driving because he needed transportation to his job; needed to work to pay for his DUI class; provided with services that found him another job and arranged transportation services so veteran would not receive further offenses
- Work plan: Identify veterans at the arraignment process; develop collaborative relationship with VA health care and veteran service providers
- Document veterans’ experiences during tour of duty; courts/prosecution must consider behaviors and circumstances that lead to offense
- Action plan to address behaviors that give rise to offense; do evaluation; alternative to incarceration
Jude Litzenberger, The Law Offices of Judith A. Litzenberger
- As high as 30% of returning OIF/OEF veterans have PTSD, traumatic brain injury
- Multiple tour veterans do not have “down time” to think about traumatic experiences; unwritten rule to not talk about what happens during combat tours
- Veterans required to fill out PTSD symptom form after returning from tour; if checked “yes” to any questions, must be evaluated by psych and leave is delayed
- Many veterans suffering from PTSD participate in activities that put their lives in jeopardy (street racing); heavy risk taking; domestic violence
- Need for prevention; access to counselors; support systems must be in place before veterans return
- Need to upgrade discharges so that veterans may access more services
- Local law enforcement must partner with HCPs
Question and Answer Session
Q: Are you still providing on-site training?
A: Groups come to visit monthly HC sessions and we will come to your community to provide training. Open to providing technical assistance to organizations.
Q: How do you catch OIF/OEF veterans in early stages before entering criminal justice system? What is next step above Stand Down?
A: Binder: We don’t represent ourselves as the cure-all; just one aspect to address these problems. Work strongly to make sure service providers are part of solution; offer alternatives to incarceration.
Jude: We’ve been working with legislators to change benefits for veterans; pilot project: five questions being asked during arraignment to connect client with services from VA and local service providers.
Q: How do you go about setting up program to clear clients’ outstanding warrants in other counties?
A: Contact public defenders’ offices; write court on behalf of client enrolled in program; demand drives the response.
Q: Counties are developing their own court systems. Are you noticing that courts are splitting up so you have a drug court, mental health court, family violence court, etc? Is there a cohesive plan to sew those back together?
A: We bundle cases throughout the county and pull from host of court rooms. We have limitations, too (domestic violence). Trying to build network to create best practices of other courts for cross-jurisdiction referrals; expanding to pull cases from several court rooms.
Closing
Melanie Lilliston, NCHV
- Thank you
- Questions may be sent to Melanie Lilliston at nchv5@nchv.org or
202-546-1969
- Homeless Court session during NCHV Annual Conference at end of month and training at Stand Down in San Diego in July
- Visit www.nchv.org for information on upcoming conference calls and NCHV Annual Conference
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