An Alternative to Incarceration: Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment Intervention for Justice-Involved Veterans

This article reports on the implementation, evaluation, and policy implications of MISSION-Criminal Justice (CJ), an innovative intervention used to treat justice-involved veterans with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (CODs). In this pilot feasibility study, MISSION-CJ was embedded into four Massachusetts courts and their probation services as an alternative to incarceration. Seventy-six veterans were diverted from jail to MISSION-CJ and completed intake and six-month follow-up assessments. The MISSION-CJ participants were primarily white, had at least two prior arrests, served in a war combat zone, had a trauma before age 18, and had previously received mental health and substance use treatments. Preliminary six-month follow-up data suggested that the MISSION-CJ participants showed improvements in COD problems, trauma symptoms, and a nonsignificant reduction in hospitalization/ER visits. MISSION-CJ was feasible to implement and seemed to show some preliminary program success. A randomized controlled trial of MISSION-CJ is a necessary next step in determining program efficacy. Policy implications for tailoring interventions for justice-involved veterans such as MISSION-CJ and their delivery alongside the court and probation are discussed.