To get an attorney, all you need to do is inform the police that you would like an attorney. Tell the police, "Officer, I am going to exercise my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. I would like an attorney at this time." At this point you should not say anything to the police until your attorney has arrived.
Full Answer
Each military service has specific regulations regarding the extent of legal assistance they provide. For further information, contact your legal assistance office. If a JAG office can't help, they will refer you to a specialized attorney as needed, normally through a local lawyer referral service.
However, many non-VA legal providers are still providing legal services available to Veterans by phone or email. To seek assistance on a legal matter, Veterans may call or email a legal services provider listed in their area.* Click here to see a list of those legal service clinics.
Therefore the VA has set up a program to help veterans who are leaving prison get back on their feet called the Healthcare for Re-Entry Veteran's Program (HCRV). Under this program the VA will provide counseling and reintegration services to qualifying veterans.
Unfortunately, some veterans will experience trouble with criminal law. There may be a number of reasons for this, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brian Injury, or other causes.
State veterans courts provide treatment rather than punishment for veterans for alcohol or drug addiction. By Margaret Wadsworth.
A representative from the State Department of Veterans Affairs is often available to advise you of state benefits available to you as a veteran.
The purpose of this contact is to evaluate the effectiveness of VTCs in helping veterans regain their footing in life and preventing future criminal activity.
The role of the judge in a VTC is to determine the treatment program that can most effectively address your problems and help you to get your life back on track.
Some other states, such as Minnesota, New Hampshire, and California, have new laws allowing judges to order veterans to get treatment rather than sentencing them to jail, if they suffer from mental illness stemming from combat experiences.
This means that in one state, a county court where one veteran appears may have a VTC, but the next county over may not. So a veteran in one county may get treatment after being arrested whereas a veteran in the next county may go to the jail for the same offense.
Not all criminal cases can be heard in the VTCs. The types of cases that can be heard in VTC varies by county and state. VTCs sometimes exclude violent crimes, sexual offenses, felonies, or violent felonies.
All or part of the compensation not paid to an incarcerated Veteran may be apportioned to the Veteran's spouse, child or children, and dependent parents on the basis of individual need. In determining individual need, consideration shall be given to such factors as the claimant's income and living expenses, the amount of compensation available to be apportioned, the needs and living expenses of other claimants as well as any special needs, if any, of all claimants.
Despite the circumstances, some justice-involved Veterans may be eligible for VA benefits. Disability compensation, pension, education and training, health care, home loans, insurance, Veteran readiness and employment, and burial.
VA disability compensation payments are reduced if a Veteran is convicted of a felony and imprisoned for more than 60 days. Veterans rated 20 percent or more are limited to the 10 percent disability rate. For a Veteran whose disability rating is 10 percent, the payment is reduced by one-half. Once a Veteran is released from prison, compensation payments may be reinstated based upon the severity of the service connected disability (ies) at that time. Payments are not reduced for recipients participating in work release programs, residing in halfway houses (also known as "residential re-entry centers"), or under community control. The amount of any increased compensation awarded to an incarcerated Veteran that results from other than a statutory rate increase may be subject to reduction due to incarceration.
Please call VA's National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 1-877-4AID-VET (1-877-424-3838) to be connected with a homeless coordinator in your area.
Veterans in receipt of VA pension will have payments terminated effective the 61st day after imprisonment in a Federal, State, or local penal institution for conviction of a felony or misdemeanor . Payments may be resumed upon release from prison if the Veteran meets VA eligibility requirements.
An apportionment of an incarcerated Veteran's VA benefits is not granted automatically to the Veteran's dependents. The dependent (s) must file a claim for an apportionment.
VA will inform a Veteran whose benefits are subject to reduction of the right of the Veteran's dependents to an apportionment while the Veteran is incarcerated, and the conditions under which payments to the Veteran may be resumed upon release from incarceration.
The National Veterans Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the crisis management, information and referral needs of U.S. Veterans and their families. We need your help to continue. Please donate what you can to help the NVF continue to serve our Veterans. DONATE NOW!
The National Veterans Foundation (NVF) and the Veterans Defense Project (VDP) proudly announce the release of The Attorney’s Guide to Defending Veterans in Criminal Court ( Defending Veterans ), ready for distribution by March 1, 2014. This legal treatise is the culmination of ten years of dedicated work that began in 2004: seven years trying to edit a previous edition of the book by NVF Founder and President Shad Meshad, and three years of serious combined editing work on new content by Brock Hunter and the VDP. The VDP is a new nonprofit formed specifically to educate and advocate for veterans in the criminal justice system. Defending Veterans brings together preeminent experts from the fields of law, medicine, social work, psychology, and psychiatry to provide practitioners with a comprehensive treatise to the art and science of defending criminally-involved veterans with PTSD, TBI, substance abuse, or other service-related disorders.
Attorneys advocating on behalf of troubled veterans in the past had little societal, scientific, or legal support for their work. It was not until the wake of Vietnam that PTSD was officially recognized, and attorneys defending veterans in criminal cases mounted the first successful PTSD-based defenses. These early advocates and their experts were few in number, and they fought an uphill battle. They could present precious little empirical evidence about PTSD, particularly regarding its ties to criminal behavior.
Generally, legal assistance is provided to the following groups: All active duty military (including members of a reserve component), Reservists released from active duty, after serving 30 days or more, Retirees. Dependents. Federal civilian employees and their dependents are also entitled to legal assistance in certain circumstances.
JAG officers hold all conversations and dealings with clients in strict confidence, as required by rules of professional responsibility.
Legal assistance is provided based upon available resources and personnel. Military Lawyers are part of the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG). JAGs can offer help in legal and non-legal matters like contract law, immigration law, ...
If you need to write your will, are considering signing a lease, or need a power of attorney or notarized signature then you need legal assistance, and best of all military service members and their families have access to legal assistance, absolutely free! Veterans are not eligible for these services. Generally, legal assistance is provided to the following groups:
Each military service has specific regulations regarding the extent of legal assistance they provide. For further information, contact your legal assistance office.
To be eligible to receive services from the Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program you must be scheduled for release from prison with 18 months, have served on active military duty, and have received a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable.
There are strict time limits for requesting this procedure, typically one year from the date of the final appellate (appeal court) decision.
The Health Care for Reentry Veterans (HCRV) program is operated by the VA and provides support for community needs (not just health care needs) to incarcerated veterans leaving prison. Each state has reentry specialists who provide outreach and assessment services. To find a specialist in the state where you're incarcerated, use the HCRV Directory. Reentry specialists can help you find a home, a job, and provide you with services you may need, such as counseling, medical care, or social services.
If you haven't had any treatment, it can still be useful to present evidence about your PTSD and your plans to receive treatment post-release. If the jail you are in doesn't offer any treatment programs for PTSD, you may be able to request a transfer to an institution that does offer such a program.
The VA and the U.S. Department of Labor offer transitional programs to help veterans getting released from prison to transition back into society. Take advantage of these programs to help you successfully move back into your community.
In certain states, there are some limited opportunities to obtain a reduced sentence based on post-traumatic stress disorder. Having PTSD from military service can be a mitigating factor. For example, if your PTSD was not diagnosed until after sentencing, your lawyer may be able to argue that you would have received a lesser sentence had it been known (in certain state courts). Or, the argument could be made that you would not have been convicted had your PTSD been known about and introduced during trial.
Know, however, that it is very rare for any defendant ( not just veterans) to be granted a new trial.
If a power of attorney is done incorrectly, it might be rejected by the institutions being asked to accept it by the agent wishing to act on behalf of the inmate, which will cause delays. Always seek appropriate advice when preparing legal documents. References.
A power of attorney is a legal document by which a person gives someone else authority to make decisions on their behalf. If a friend or family member is incarcerated, a financial power of attorney would give you authority to manage his money and a parental power of attorney would allow you to make decisions about his children on his behalf.
Willing Principal. You cannot force someone to make a power of attorney. The principal must make the decision of his own free will. You can educate an incarcerated person about powers of attorney when you visit him, or you can send him information about powers of attorney to show the ways in which the legal document could help him and his family.
Formalities. Most states require that powers of attorney be signed by the principal in the presence of witnesses or a notary. An incarcerated principal also must follow these rules. If the prisoner has an attorney, you can ask the attorney to prepare it or you can give her the document and ask her to arrange for signature.
Addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition. A' pattern of decreasing frequency of use before sustained abstinence from alcohol and other drugs is common. Eventually, participants learn to manage cravings, avoid or deal more effectively with high-risk situations, and maintain sobriety for increasing length of time. Although the Drug Court recognizes that individuals have a tendency to relapse, continuing alcohol and other drug use is not condoned. Drug courts impose appropriate responses for continuing use. Responses increase in severity for continual failure to abstain.
APRIL28, 2009 Mr. KENNEDY(for himself, Mr . SULLIVAN, Mr. HIGGINS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MICHAUD, and Mr. BOREN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
US Department of Veterans Affairs and Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Court can order the defendant to obtain treatment through these providers. Setting up communication with these providers and obtaining the necessary forms and methods of communication between the VA and the Court should be established.
4. The statute allows circuits to use one county as the veterans court and allow the other counties to feed into the court. This makes the courts more economically feasible. Transportation can be an issue. Veteran volunteers could be used as a possible transportation resource.