Corrections_Today_May_June_2019

Bookshelf

says, “Drawn from the wealth of Evan Seamone’s professional endeavors in combination with his personal military experience, this exploration and integration of topical research and commentary regarding justice involved veterans is remarkable.” Honestly, I could end this review there and strongly suggest all who have an interest obtain it, but I will not. It is important that correctional professionals understand the dynamics of servicing this unique population. Seamone does a more than credible job in explaining these dynamics. Seamone is more than qualified to present this material. As a professor of law, he has delved into many issues, but one paragraph from the preface should resonate with every correctional professional: “Jails and prisons have a tremendous opportunity either to prevent or to induce negative symptoms among incarcerated veterans with legitimate mental health needs. In the establishment of veteran-specific interventions, good screening systems, solid eligibility criteria, and stringent participation standards will help reduce the possibility of fraud, waste and abuse.” This book will attempt to help individuals as well as correctional professionals to understand veteran inmates. 1 Seamone does a masterful job in

this discussion. He has a significant publishing history on many topics to include articles on enhanced legal counseling for those with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) along with his book chapter in “The Attorney’s Guide to Defending Veterans in Criminal Court.” The world for veterans has significantly changed since I had my first drug abuse caseload of many veterans who had recently returned from Vietnam. For the most part, they were draftees who had developed addictions to heroin and after one tour of duty returned home. While they had many issues, many were not all that different than the number of others on my caseload with significant substance use histories, except they were generally more mature and, for the most part, more committed to obtaining assistance. 2 Now we fast forward to 2019, and the veterans we see are much different. They have often served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan; they are not draftees and many return with serious PTSD. This is not to say those who returned from Vietnam did not experience some of the same, but my experience showed those who have done multiple tours have issues which have been cumulative. A tour as a civilian rule of law contractor revealed people who had completed as many as nine tours. →

Rescuing Soldiers of Misfortune: A Full-Spectrum Approach to Veterans in the Criminal Justice System from Arrest to Reentry Written by Evan Seamone, Charles C. Thomas, Publisher, LTD. (2019), 370 pp. Reviewed by Art Beeler, Senior

Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law and Adjunct Professor at North Carolina Central University.

For any correctional profes- sional who works with veterans, supervises a veterans court or has a veterans unit or program within a correctional institution, Professor Evan Seamone’s book is one you need to have on your bookshelf. It is a most comprehensive discussion of the many issues veterans bring back from service and combat to the criminal justice system. The commentary by Joel Rosenthal, retired national training director of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Veterans Justice Programs

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