As a retired Marine Corps troop commander, Loudon State Rep. Mike Moffett has seen veterans run into trouble with the law – something he argues is often directly related to their military service.

That’s why he sponsored a bill in the Legislature this year to establish a “veterans court” that will allow judges to prioritize care and recovery for veterans who’ve been convicted of a crime, rather than imprisonment.

“Some of the issues that veterans have, especially if they’ve been in harm’s way, contribute to their troubles when they’re back in a civilian venue,” said Moffett, who served 28 years with the Marines. “If someone is impacted physically or emotionally due to their service to their country, we want to factor that in when sentencing them for certain crimes.”

By “troubles,” Moffett said, he’s referring to substance abuse disorders and other struggles associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, more than half of veterans who’ve come into contact with the criminal justice system have mental health problems or substance abuse disorders.

As of 2022, about 88,300 veterans lived in New Hampshire. Currently, the Department of Corrections has 171 incarcerated individuals who report having served in the military, according to spokesperson Jane Graham.

Similar to the state’s drug courts and mental health courts, this one isn’t necessarily a separate “court,” according to Windham Rep. Bob Lynn, the former chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, who co-sponsored the bill. Rather, it serves as a distinct track or docket within existing court systems. Gov. Chris Sununu signed the bill in August, and it’ll be implemented starting in July 2025.

Moffett said he and Lynn got the idea while attending an out-of-state legislators’ conference and learning how other states have handled it. More than 600 veterans treatment courts exist across the country, as of 2021, according to the National Center for State Courts.

Lynn said the upfront costs will be covered by saving money in the long run. However, Helen Hanks, the commissioner of the state’s Department of Corrections, said she doesn’t currently have the staffing to maintain her department’s role in this program.

During her budget requests for 2026-27 on Tuesday she said the department has seen success from drug courts and mental-health courts reducing the number of people in state prison facilities. Those “specialty courts,” as she called them, can overload the parole system. While paroled release helps people be more successful after a run-in with the law, she said, the veterans court legislation didn’t come with any additional staffing.

“We don’t have additional probation and parole officers to provide that resource,” Hanks said.

Veterans who use this track are required to check in with parole officers, submit to drug testing and complete court-ordered treatments. Moffett emphasized that this bill doesn’t excuse or change any verdicts but said, at judges’ discretion, the state can impose a different kind of sentencing for veterans convicted of misdemeanors and felonies.

It requires counties to establish a veterans court, which could exist in tandem with an existing mental health court, and hire a statewide coordinator role, who will supervise the program at large.

Some of New Hampshire’s mental health courts already have a veterans track. Warren Perry, the deputy adjutant general for the state Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services, said programs like those decrease recidivism and keep people from reentering the criminal justice system.

Demand for the veterans’ track will be low, he said, but worth it. He testified in support of the bill this spring and estimated the program will likely see between 28 and 40 people each year, with the highest concentrations in Hillsborough and Rockingham counties. But, he said the real benefit will be an outsized impact on the lives of each individual veteran who uses the track.

“What we’re trying to do is make everybody better citizens and help them be productive members of their communities, which is really the most important thing,” Perry said. “We don’t want to give them handouts. We want to give people a way to continue to serve.”

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, or send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.