Sussex County Veterans Diversion Program

The county's page. "The Sussex County Prosecutor's Office (SCPO) is proud to announce the launch of a Veterans Diversion Program (VDP or Program) in Sussex County. The purpose of the Program is to divert eligible servicemembers away from the criminal justice system and into appropriate case management and mental health services as early as possible following an interaction with law enforcement where the servicemember committed a non-violent third or fourth degree crime, disorderly persons, or petty disorderly persons offense. To be eligible for the VDP, the servicemember must either have a prior diagnosis of mental illness or there must be a reasonable basis to believe that the servicemember has a mental illness. Similar to the SCPO's existing Mental Health Intervention Program, the VDP involves intensive supervision and monitoring of a servicemember's mental health treatment by applicable treatment providers and this Office. To the extent possible, the SCPO will also facilitate the assignment of a volunteer mentor to the servicemember in the Program." Terms. "Participants must meet all diversion requirements to remain in the VDP, and the Program must be successfully completed within two years from the date of diversion." "A servicemember who successfully completes the terms and conditions of this Program to the satisfaction of the prosecutor, who has not been the subject of any subsequent criminal charges and continues to make progress with mental health and/or substance abuse treatment shall have his or her charges dismissed. Where charges were dismissed after a servicemember's successful completion of the VDP, the participant may apply for expungement following the issuance of an order of dismissal. The SCPO retains sole discretion over who is admitted into the VDP." "The NJ Veterans Diversion Statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:43-26d, requires that a participant accepted into the VDP Program shall agree in writing to..." the statute's conditions. Prosecutor Daniel Perez's office publishes the program on its own site (an application read through the platform's own API). New Jersey has no per-county veterans treatment court list on njcourts.gov; the prosecutor-run diversion program is the state's veteran criminal-justice mechanism.