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Veterans Treatment Court Program — a Right to Apply Where the Circuit Took the Money

Each circuit solicitor may establish a veterans treatment court programme. A solicitor who accepts state funding for one must establish and administer at least one programme in the circuit within 180 days of receiving the funding, and must ensure that all eligible persons are permitted to apply for admission.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Each circuit solicitor may establish a veterans treatment court programme. A solicitor who accepts state funding for one must establish and administer at least one programme in the circuit within 180 days of receiving the funding, and must ensure that all eligible persons are permitted to apply for admission.

What it's worth: Diversion into treatment instead of prosecution — where the circuit runs a programme

  • Chapter 29 of Title 14 may be cited as the "Veterans Treatment Court Program Act", added by 2014 Act No. 280, effective 10 June 2014.
  • Its stated purpose is to divert qualifying nonviolent military veteran offenders away from the criminal justice system and into appropriate treatment programmes, thereby reserving prison space for violent criminals and others for whom incarceration is the only reasonable alternative.
  • Each circuit solicitor MAY establish a programme — the chapter does not require one in every circuit.
  • A circuit solicitor that accepts state funding MUST establish and administer at least one programme for the circuit within one hundred eighty days of receipt of that funding.
  • The circuit solicitor administers the programme and must ensure that all eligible persons are permitted to apply for admission.
  • The chapter as published contains three sections and no more. It sets no eligibility list, names no qualifying or disqualifying offences, sets no programme length, and states no consequence of completion.
  • The only eligibility language anywhere in the chapter is the purpose clause — "qualifying nonviolent military veteran offenders" and "veterans of a military conflict in which the United States military is or has been involved".

Who is entitled to it

  • The programme diverts the veteran defendant.
  • Your home is in South Carolina.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: As early in the case as possible — diversion is decided before disposition
  1. 1Ask the solicitor’s office directly whether the circuit runs a programme. The chapter makes it optional, so the answer varies circuit by circuit and there is no statewide list in the Code.
  2. 2If the circuit does run one, quote §14-29-30: the solicitor must ensure that all eligible persons are permitted to apply. That is a right to be considered, not a right to be admitted.
  3. 3Ask when the circuit received state funding. A solicitor who accepted funding had 180 days to stand a programme up, which is a fair question to put if you are told there is nothing available.
  4. 4Do not assume a violent charge is eligible. The purpose clause speaks of nonviolent offenders, and the criteria beyond that are the solicitor’s, not the Code’s.
  5. 5Get your service documents and any service-connected diagnosis in front of defence counsel early — the admission decision is made by the solicitor, and the material has to be there when it is made.
  6. 6Ask in writing what completion earns in that circuit. Nothing in the chapter promises dismissal or expungement, so the answer is local practice and you want it recorded.
  7. 7A county veterans’ affairs officer can help assemble the service evidence, and that help is free.
Form
Application for admission to the circuit’s programme
File with
The circuit solicitor’s office for the judicial circuit where the charge is pending
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionGuides describe a statewide veterans court with a published eligibility list — combat service, particular diagnoses, particular offences. The Act contains none of that. Every criterion beyond "nonviolent veteran offender" is set locally by the circuit solicitor, so the answer in one circuit tells you nothing about the next.
Worth knowingThe 180-day duty is triggered by accepting state funding, not by the Act itself. A circuit that never took funding is under no obligation to run anything.
Known gapWhich circuits currently operate a programme was not established. The judicial branch treatment-court pages and the state veterans department pages were both unreachable this session, so no list of operating courts is published here.

Sources

Why only one source type: The chapter is three sections long and was read in full this session. The state veterans department’s own pages, which would say which circuits operate a programme, refused every connection.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.