Allegheny County DUI Treatment Court Enhancement Initiative

The purpose of the Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program (42 U.S.C. 3797u et seq.) is to provide financial and technical assistance to states, state courts, local courts, units of local government, and Indian tribal governments to develop and implement drug treatment courts that effectively integrate substance abuse treatment, mandatory drug testing, sanctions and incentives, and transitional services in a judicially supervised court setting with jurisdiction over nonviolent, substance-abusing offenders. The FY 2010 Adult Drug Court Discretionary Grant Program will provide grant funds to jurisdictions to implement or enhance a local drug court or to improve, enhance, expand, or financial support drug court services statewide.

Allegheny County will use the grant funds to enhance the Fifth Judicial District DUI court operations in order to assist non-violent DUI participants with successful rehabilitation from the use of alcohol. The county will purchase 57 Transdermal Alcohol Monitoring devices (BiTAD) that will allow the court to constantly monitor the alcohol consumption of DUI court participants. The BiTAD devices will serve as a significant tool that the Fifth Judicial District's DUI court will use to assist DUI participants to successfully graduate from DUI court and reduce DUI recidivism.

CA/NCF