ABSTRACT

This article assesses the need for veterans’ courts or lists in Australia. While evidence suggests that former and returned service personnel are over-represented in criminal justice institutions, insufficient attention has been paid to the desirability and feasibility of a veterans’ court or list in Australia. In accordance with therapeutic jurisprudence principles, a specialist court such as this would divert eligible individuals from standard court processes into a track focused on treatment and rehabilitation. In this article, we assess the available data addressing veterans’ interactions with the criminal justice system and analyse the relevance of the overseas experience for Australia. We identify the considerations relevant to the establishment of a veterans’ court or veterans’ list and argue that a bespoke veterans’ justice pathway should be considered in order to enhance the responsiveness of the criminal justice system to the specific needs of returned service personnel, and to expand the scope of therapeutic approaches to crime in Australian jurisdictions.

摘要

本文评估了澳大利亚对退伍军人法庭或名单的需求。虽然有证据表明刑事司法机构中前任和返回的服务人员人数过多，但对澳大利亚退伍军人法庭或名单的可取性和可行性关注不足。根据治疗法学原则，像这样的专业法庭会将符合条件的个人从标准法庭程序转移到专注于治疗和康复的轨道上。在本文中，我们评估了有关退伍军人与刑事司法系统互动的可用数据，并分析了海外经历与澳大利亚的相关性。