Veterans Clinic Director Testifies Before U.S. Senate on Justice-Involved Veterans
On April 15, 2026, three representatives from UW Law traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing titled “Programs for Justice-Involved Veterans,” urging lawmakers to expand access to mental healthcare, disability benefits and treatment-based alternatives to incarceration for veterans. Justice-involved veterans are veterans who are at risk of incarceration, have been incarcerated, or who are facing the collateral consequences of incarceration.
Associate Teaching Professor Rose Carmen Goldberg, who directs the Veterans Clinic, testified at the hearing at the invitation of the committee. She drew upon more than a decade of veterans advocacy work to highlight the systemic barriers justice-involved veterans face as they attempt to recover from service-related traumas and reintegrate into civilian life.
“I have seen firsthand the significant barriers that justice-involved veterans face to healing from service traumas, which too often lead to incarceration,” Goldberg told the Committee. “This perpetuates the cycle of trauma, aggravating invisible wounds we have a duty to treat.”
The Veterans Clinic provides free legal assistance to low-income veterans pursuing Veterans Administration (VA) disability benefits and military discharge upgrades. Many of the clinic’s clients are justice-involved veterans navigating mental health challenges, homelessness and barriers to accessing earned benefits and treatment.
Advocacy for three primary changes
A major focus of Goldberg’s testimony was the importance of Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs), which she described as a proven effective intervention for justice-involved veterans. VTCs combine judicial supervision, mental health and substance use treatment, peer mentoring and structured accountability to address the underlying causes of criminal behavior, including combat trauma, military sexual trauma (MST), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).
Goldberg emphasized that VTCs not only reduce recidivism but also connect veterans with healthcare, housing and other support services that advance the VA’s goals of reducing veteran homelessness and suicide.
Goldberg also addressed how incarcerated veterans are frequently deprived of earned VA benefits. Under current law, veterans convicted of felonies and incarcerated for more than 60 days have their disability payments substantially reduced. Although benefits are supposed to be restored upon release, Goldberg explained that veterans often face long delays and bureaucratic hurdles during the critical reentry period.
She additionally warned that inconsistent VA tracking of incarceration can result in veterans unknowingly accumulating overpayment debt, only to later discover that their future benefits are being garnished. These debts, she said, can seriously undermine successful reintegration into society.
“Veterans should not have to fight through red tape to get their earned benefits back during the delicate reentry period,” Goldberg testified, urging Congress to support automatic restoration of benefits upon release.
Another key issue Goldberg raised was the lack of access to mental healthcare for incarcerated veterans. She strongly endorsed the Get Justice-Involved Veterans BACK HOME Act (S. 4162), which would establish a pilot program under which the VA would provide telemental health services to incarcerated veterans.
Goldberg argued that incarcerated veterans are among those most urgently in need of VA mental healthcare, particularly because incarceration often worsens service-connected mental health conditions. She emphasized that VA-provided care is uniquely effective because it is tailored to military experiences and conditions such as PTSD, MST and TBI.
“The relatively recent exclusion of incarcerated veterans from standard VA care is both inequitable and harmful,” she said.
In closing her testimony, Goldberg urged lawmakers to continue focusing on policies that treat the root causes of veterans’ justice involvement rather than relying on punishment.
“By focusing on building programs that heal veterans’ service traumas instead of punishing them,” she said, “we can truly achieve justice for veterans.”
Reflections by Veterans Clinic students
Meagan White and Gabby McGann, second-year J.D. students in the Veterans Clinic, assisted Goldberg with research and testimony preparation and traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the hearing.
White described the opportunity to observe the Senate hearing and hear testimony from a veteran impacted by VTCs, Corey Schramm, as reaffirming her commitment to veterans law and advocacy. “I was proud to be part of advocating for veterans just a few miles from where my father, a U.S. Navy sailor, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery,” she reflected. “It was incredibly exciting watching our hard work come to fruition as Professor Goldberg testified and fielded questions using our research.”
“After spending hours immersed in researching VTCs, it was inspiring to listen to the personal testimony of someone whose life had been changed by those very programs. Mr. Schramm, and veterans like him, are the reason I want to work in veterans law,” said White. “Seeing and hearing about their successes reaffirmed my commitment to fighting to help veterans access the benefits and assistance they are owed.”
For her part, McGann relished the experience for the chance to apply skills from her Persuasive Writing class in a real-world legislative setting, such as framing issues for congressional testimony and advocating effectively. “I appreciated being able to learn from Professor Goldberg's process of drafting and refining her testimony — she addressed the topic of the hearing but also expanded what she said in her written and oral testimony to additional issues, like the VA providing virtual mental healthcare to incarcerated veterans and incarcerated veterans being deprived of VA disability benefits.”
McGann, who lived in the nation’s capital before coming to law school, had interned last summer for the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation under Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA). “It was really cool to be back, but on the other side of the hearing,” she said. “I’m really thankful to Professor Goldberg and UW Law for the opportunity.”
Goldberg praised both students for their work preparing for the hearing and engaging with Senate staff throughout the process.
“The Veterans Clinic students did a remarkable job of quickly steeping themselves in the complex statutes and regulations that govern what benefits and treatment justice-involved veterans can currently access,” she said. “Seeing their passion for serving veterans and rapid mastery of complicated policies was inspiring. It gives great hope for all the good they will do once unleashed into the legal profession.”