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Program
Description
The
King County Adult Drug
Diversion Court (KC Drug Court) is a pre-adjudication
program that provides eligible defendants the opportunity to receive drug
treatment in lieu of incarceration.
The
mission of King County Drug
Diversion Court is to combine the resources of
the criminal justice system, drug and alcohol treatment and other community
service providers to compel the substance-abusing offender to address his
or her substance abuse problem by providing an opportunity for treatment
and holding the offender strictly accountable.
The KC Drug
Court was implemented in August 1994, the
twelfth Drug Court
in the country. The KC Drug
Court is a pre-adjudication program that
provides eligible defendants the opportunity to receive drug treatment in
lieu of incarceration. Eligible defendants can elect to participate in the program
or proceed with traditional court processing. After choosing to participate in the
program, defendants come under the court's supervision and are required to
attend treatment sessions, undergo random urinalysis, and appear before the
KC Drug Court
judge on a regular basis.
If defendants meet the requirements of each of the four
phases of KC Drug Court,
they graduate from the program and the charges are dismissed. If defendants
fail to make progress they are terminated from the program and sentenced on
their original charge. While KC Drug Court
is a minimum 10 month program, the average graduate requires 15 months to
complete. KC Drug Court provides treatment to
an estimated 550 individuals at any one time.
A Unique Partnership
Drug Diversion Courts are built upon a unique
partnership between the criminal justice system and drug treatment
community, one which structures treatment intervention around the authority
and personal involvement of a single Drug Court judge. Drug Courts are
also dependent upon the creation of a non-adversarial courtroom atmosphere
where a single judge and a dedicated team of court officers and staff work
together toward a common goal of breaking the cycle of drug abuse and
criminal behavior.
Eligibility Requirements
·
Link
to Eligibility Criteria
Since 1994, KC
Drug Court expanded legal eligibility criteria
on four occasions, in 2003 a Drug
Court calendar was added art the Regional Justice Center
in Kent,
and in recent years, KC Drug
Court significantly increased the availability
and range of treatment and ancillary services.
National
Recognition
KC Drug Court is
recognized as one of the most established and progressive drug courts in
the country. In February, 2007, the
court became the first in the nation to receive the Transforming
Communities Award from the National Association of Drug Court
Professionals. As of December 2007,
there are 2,147 operating drug courts in the United States.
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