Enhancements to the Western Judicial Circuit's Felony Drug 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.

The Western Judicial Circuit Felony Drug Court will use the enhancement grant to rewrite the program's curriculum, incorporate motivational interviewing in the program so that more participants can enter the program, pay for an evaluation, and provide training opportunities for the Program Coordinator, treatment provider, and Drug Court staffing team. The Felony Drug Court serves Athens-Clarke and Oconee Counties in Georgia - two counties that have been experiencing returning prison inmates with untreated drug and alcohol problems. The curriculum redesign will increase the relevant theory and intervention materials used in the program. The curriculum will expand on the areas of life skills, reentry, and relapse prevention. This enhancement will support reentry programming being taught during group sessions. The curriculum will also be revised to include training on addressing errors in criminal thinking. The Felony Drug Court will also use this award to fund necessary training for the Program Coordinator and treatment provider. Lastly, the Felony Drug Court has been in existence since 2004 and will use this award to hire an evaluator and a research assistant to the evaluator in order to conduct a year-five impact study. The goal of the study will be to determine if the Drug Court has had a measurable impact on crime and incarceration rates within the two counties.

CA/NCF