New CCJ report on “Falling Through the Cracks: Gaps in Identifying Veterans on Community Supervision”
The Council on Criminal Justice is continuing to produce notable new reports on veterans and criminal justice systems. The latest CCJ report, available here, is titled “Falling Through the Cracks: Gaps in Identifying Veterans on Community Supervision.” Here is the start of the report:
Accurate identification of veterans involved in the criminal justice system is critical to connecting them with tailored services that can support successful reentry and reduce recidivism. This brief explores how community supervision agencies identify and verify the veteran status of people under pretrial supervision and on probation and parole, building on previous research into veteran identification practices in prisons.
The brief reports results of a 2024 survey of current and former community supervision agents about how they identify veterans and whether their offices make referrals to services tailored to the veteran population. While findings are not nationally representative, they offer preliminary insights into common practices and challenges across supervision systems.
Key Takeaways
- A lack of uniform definitions and methods for identifying veterans means there is no accurate count of the number of veterans under community supervision in the United States.
- Veteran identification practices in pretrial supervision, probation, and parole are often informal, inconsistent, and poorly integrated into supervision processes.
- Former service members whose veteran status is not identified while they are on community supervision likely miss critical connections to services that could support successful reentry.
- Recently adopted national standards for community supervision recommend the creation of specialized veteran caseloads to improve identification and connection to services.
- States should conduct system-level reviews to evaluate current identification practices, pinpoint where gaps exist, and develop consistent protocols for verification and referral.