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Q&A
Staten Island DA McMahon discusses veterans treatment court statistics and challenges
7:00:31
ยท
54 sec
Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon provides information about the borough's veterans treatment court and discusses challenges faced by treatment courts in general.
- Reports 66 participants in Staten Island's veterans court program since its 2017 inception
- Echoes DA Gonzalez's concerns about unintended consequences of case dismissals
- Emphasizes the importance of meaningful outcomes in alternative-to-incarceration programs
- Highlights similar challenges faced by drug treatment courts
Michael McMahon
7:00:31
Be real quick.
7:00:32
Just in terms of numbers.
7:00:34
So we started the court in 2017.
7:00:36
We've had 66 participants in the program.
7:00:40
It was much more robust, but d a Gonzalez is absolutely right.
7:00:45
It is another unintended consequence of cases getting dismissed at the get go or during the process for for technical violations, and you're losing the meaningful outcomes even in those cases, which is something that I I speak to a lot, you know, and said, forty percent of our cases go to alternative to incarceration.
7:01:04
That means that those people did something wrong.
7:01:07
It It was against the norms of society, but they don't shouldn't go to jail for it, but they should get some sort of direction and help so that they don't recidivate.
7:01:14
Right?
7:01:15
And that is not being done in Veterans Treatment Court.
7:01:17
A perfect example of that drug treatment court.
7:01:19
Our whole program, that is all true.
7:01:22
So I just wanted to underscore that as well.