Fairfax County Drug Court

Drug Court Abstract

Fairfax County is seeking a Category 3: Adult Drug Court grant (Competition ID: BJA-2021-00019). We are an urban community of 1.2 million residents and are seeking funding for enhancing our Adult Drug Court, which currently uses a post-plea model.

Total federal amount requested: $500,000

Duration of grant: 48 months

Program Capacity: The drug court became operational in September 2018 and current capacity is 25 participants. We anticipate enrolling 80 additional participants if we receive this BJA grant. We plan to enroll 45-55 participants per year in the program for a total of at least 180 enrolled over the course of the grant period. The drug court is a minimum of 14 months and a maximum of 36 months, with an average of 22 months. Participants remain in the program until they complete all five phases.

Target Population: Currently, the drug court targets offenders who have felony drug or property offenses for which they are facing 2-20 years and who violated the conditions of their probation. With this grant, we are looking to increase capacity and expand the eligibility criteria to include all new felony charges. Consistent with NADCP Best Practice Standards, the target population will be offenders who are: (1) addicted to or dependent on illicit drugs or alcohol, and (2) at high risk for criminal recidivism or failure in less intensive rehabilitative programs. We use COMPAS to identify the high-risk and high-need individuals to be served under this grant.

Treatment and Services: The Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB) offers extensive medication assisted therapy (MAT) (methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone) resources at a variety of sites throughout the county and in partnership with the Fairfax Adult Detention Center.

The CSB offers a wide variety of community-based treatment and services to address substance abuse reduction. This includes a residential substance use treatment/habilitation program and an intensive outpatient program, including a Trauma Recovery and Empowerment (TREM) treatment protocol. Certified Peer Specialists provide outreach, education, and linkages to natural community supports and 12-step programs.

NADCP Adult Drug Court Best Practice Standards and how we address each can be found on pages 13 of the Drug Court Narrative.

Fairfax County received an OJP FY15 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant (Award # 2015-VV-BX-0035) to support our Veterans Treatment Docket. Fairfax County also received an OJP FY18 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant (Award # 2018-DC-BX-0059) to support implementation of our Adult Drug Court.