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Enact Weld Plan On Special Courts

State Senate Majority Whip Ryan Weld is right in his desire to establish — or, rather, resume — a special type of court in West Virginia. His fellow legislators and the state Supreme Court should embrace his initiative.

Weld, R-Brooke, plans to introduce legislation to establish a “Mental Health, Veteran and Service Members Court” under the Supreme Court. It would address the special needs of the categories of people named in the title.

Right here in the First Judicial Circuit, there was a special court intended for veterans, as Weld points out. It was discontinued for former Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry.

Weld’s idea, born in part of his own experience as an assistant prosecuting attorney, is that the special court “is a way to address issues that may have caused a person to commit a crime …”

That sounds like an attempt at rehabilitation rather than mere punishment — and that alone makes Weld’s plan a good one.

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