Crossover Case Initiative

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.

The county of Santa Clara will use the drug court enhancement grant to increase services within the Drug Treatment Court (DTC), Dependency Drug Treatment Court (DDTC), and the Family Wellness Court (FWC). The target population will be crossover cases, referring to participants who have cases concurrently in the criminal and dependency courts. A project-funded Drug Courts Coordinator (DCC) will identify all clients who have co-occurring involvement in the criminal and dependency systems for whom substance abuse is a primary issue. Through this enhancement, 100 individuals will benefit from increased and enhanced drug court services as well as the joint coordination of their criminal and dependency case requirements. All 100 crossover cases will be placed in the DTC, allowing access to a range of treatment and ancillary services and potential expungement of the criminal case.

This project supports early identification of defendants in the criminal court who have pending dependency cases; coordination of the criminal and dependency courts, probation department, child welfare, and service partners; increased efficiency and effectiveness in the court's management system for crossover cases; and improved service access and utilization by defendants moved into the DTC. It also supports improved treatment outcomes; improved rates of drug court compliance and graduation; improved rates of rehabilitation; increased family reunification; improved records and data management for crossover cases; and a project evaluation that supports the maintenance of ongoing, coordinated court systems and serves as a model for other jurisdictions.

CA/NCF