Enhancement Grant - 36th District Court's Drug Court

PROJECT ABSTRACT

The 36th District Court is located at 421 Madison, Detroit, Michigan.  The Court is a limited jurisdiction court which presides over Misdemeanors, ordinance violations with sentences less than one-year, preliminary trials on felony charges, civil litigation under $25,000 excluding equity and small claims under $3,000, and landlord/tenant or summary proceedings.

The Court is seeking funding through the Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program (Category 2 Enhancement) for a total budget of $646,760 (a cash match of $215,587), to enhance the Adult Drug Treatment Court, Veterans Treatment Court, and the Co-occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment Court.  If awarded funding will be used to contract a Clinical Case Manager who shall assess patients' treatment needs and continuously monitor and evaluate individual treatment plans and progress, communicating patients' progress with internal teams and other healthcare providers, and preparing patients' discharges by reviewing individual plans and coordinating post-discharge requirements. 

In 2022, the 36th District Court was appointed as a Mentor Court by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. The Court strives to maintain the highest degree of standards and service delivery. Through partnerships with community-based and faith-based agencies, we hope to impact the lives of participants and improve their chances of success.  The Drug and Veterans Treatment Court is located in Detroit, Michigan, a city with 677,000 residents in an urban setting.  The 36th District Court is surrounded by an empowerment zone and renewal community as designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The 36th District Court is not leveraging any other federal funding sources such as the Second Chance Act, Justice Reinvestment, or Justice Assistance Grant Program to support our Drug Treatment and Veteran Treatment Courts.   

Program participation is 12 months, the average length of participation is 13 months, and the maximum length of participation is 24 months. Our court has an intensive partnership with the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (formerly Detroit Wayne County Mental Health Authority), Team Wellness, Neighborhood Legal Services of Michigan, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, the Detroit Police Department, and both city and county prosecutors.

The target population is defendants convicted of non-violent misdemeanors committed in order to support a chemical-dependent lifestyle. Criminogenic risk and need for this population will be assessed using the NEEDS risk instrument.  Our population does have access to Medically Assisted Treatment and our program includes treatment and services to address opioid abuse reduction.  We will also use the Drug Court Case Management Information System to collect and report in-program progress and the Michigan Judicial Data Warehouse to track program outcomes.