FY21 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program

Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council

2021 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program

Project Abstract

Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) is pleased to submit this application in response to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program FY 2021 Competitive Grant Announcement. This application focuses on Category 4: Statewide Strategies to Support Adult Drug Courts and Veterans Treatment Courts. CJCC is requesting $1,500,000 over 48 months to improve, enhance, and expand adult drug courts by: 1) scaling up drug court capacity by expanding availability of evidence-based programs through training for court staff; 2) establishing a technical and training assistance (TTA) statewide program to assist courts in improving policies and procedures based on collected data; 3) coordinating with the Center for Court Innovation to conduct a statewide, mixed methods evaluation of the state’s adult drug courts; and 4) enhancing the current curriculum provided in the tune-up trainings for existing courts.
 

The adult drug courts to be served by this funding will include: Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)/Driving Under the Influence (DUI); Adult Felony Drug; Co-Occurring where participants possess both a substance abuse and mental illness diagnosis; and Veteran Treatment Courts. CJCC proposes to strategically enhance the treatment options for participants though the expansion of training opportunities for court staff, conducting of a statewide evaluation of the adult drug courts to provide a deeper analysis of mechanisms that may be responsible for positive or negative outcomes at the court or client level as well as providing a TTA program for court staff. This proposal will customize options for court staff to enhance current offerings to better serve the needs of participants who suffer from a substance use disorder, while also ensuring standardized processes that are in line with both state and federal standards to all the adult drug courts who receive state funding.

Due to this initiative being a statewide expansion and implementation, the targeted population is spread across Georgia’s various urbanicities, to include urban, rural, and suburban localities. CJCC expects to serve 210 court staff over the 48- month grant period. This project will respond to each of the NADCP Standards and Key Components (see pages 7-12).
 

CJCC has managed multiple Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grants from OJP (grant numbers 2014-VV-BX-0058, 2018-DC-BX-0068, 2019-MU-BX-0047). The FY19 grant award is specific to addressing the use of Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) throughout the entire state accountability court system. Through the expansion of the MAT program, the state is taking critical steps to combatting the opioid epidemic.