Schenectady Drug Court Program

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.

The New York State Unified Court System will use the grant funds to expand the Schenectady County Drug Court Program (SCDC) to include a supervised comprehensive driving while intoxicated treatment program for non-violent defendants who are at least 16 years old and are addicted to alcohol and/or drugs. The SCDC will use funds to hire a full-time counselor to provide alcohol specific counseling and monitoring and an evaluator to evaluate the enhancement components. The SCDC will also purchase Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitors (SCRAM) to ensure that participants are abstaining from alcohol use. The intent of the drug court will be to ensure that participants are maintaining abstinence while in the drug court program and reduce recidivism to under 10 percent.

CA/NCF