David Kapner testimony: Legal Aid Society and Veterans Court overview
Kapner introduces himself as a Legal Aid Society attorney since 1988. He describes Veterans Court as a specialty alternative to incarceration program where participants share military experience, creating camaraderie and mutual support that differs from other ATI programs. Veterans can be rehabilitated because they have previously functioned at high levels.
Good afternoon.
My name is David Kapner, K-A-P-N-E-R.
I'm an attorney with the Legal Aid Society.
I've been an attorney at the Legal Aid Society since 1988, and I've been a supervisor since 1996.
I represent, and the people I supervise represent, our clients.
many, many, many of whom suffer from mental health, drug addiction, and that has led directly to their criminality or alleged criminality.
And many of our clients are also veterans.
And again, there is a lot of overlap amongst those groups.
I would like to specific, well, thank you for taking on the issues that you've been taking on.
These are really important issues.
And unless people such as yourselves take it on and see that the programs are funded and attention is drawn to it.
It just won't be.
So,
So I represent a lot of people in alternatives to incarceration programs.
Veterans Court is one of those programs.
Veterans Court is special, obviously.
Everyone's a veteran.
Part of the problem is that getting funded for any of these programs, including veterans programs, is very difficult.
It's a specialty.
The judges undergo specialized training.
The court staff goes under specialized training.
I have my...
Counterpart in the DA's offices have also undergone training.
The programs that we utilize through Veterans Court are the same programs, for the most part, that are in drug court or mental health court.
Hopefully, but not always, they have a specialized veterans
pod or focus.
That's not always the case.
There is advantages.
The Veterans Administration does oversee many of their eligible veterans to sort of coordinate care.