EDWARDSVILLE — Nearly 90 percent of participants who enter Madison County’s Veterans Court successfully complete the program, according to new data. The data is part of an evaluation conducted by a team led by Dr. Jeremy Jewell, a professor of psychology at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Jewell’s evaluation was conducted for the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, which provides a grant for the Veterans Court. The evaluation covered a four-year grant period, from 2019 to 2022, and found that 88.5 percent of the Veterans Court’s participants successfully complete the program. Madison County’s Veterans Court is a specialized type of diversion court, geared specifically toward military veterans. Jewell said most diversion courts, also known as alternative-treatment courts, achieve a graduation rate of about 50 percent. “To achieve a graduation rate in our Veterans Court of almost 90 percent is really astonishing,” Jewell said. “It’s
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