Onondaga County Community Treatment Court

The Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program is designed to assist states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments in developing and establishing drug courts for substance-abusing adult and juvenile offenders. Drug court programs funded by the Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program are required by law to target nonviolent offenders. The program supports the following activities: adult drug court implementation, single jurisdiction drug court enhancement, statewide drug court enhancement, and planning efforts.

Onondaga County Community Treatment Court (OCCTC) will utilize fiscal year 2009 Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program funds to expand capacity, streamline screening and referral procedures, and enhance services offered. Currently, the court only accepts eligible misdemeanor offenders from within the city of Syracuse. Through the grant, standardized procedures for referrals of misdemeanor offenders from surrounding town and village courts that ensures identification and referral are expedited will be developed, and a new case manager assigned to the additional referrals will be hired. The case manager, together with the court's existing staff, will enable the OCCTC to accommodate up to 200 additional referrals at any given time. Once the new process is established, a vocational/educational specialist will also be hired to assist participants in acquiring necessary skills, in addition to establishing relationships with area service providers and employers to further the goal of linking offenders to stable employment.

CA/NCF