Community courts put rehabilitation first

When criminal activity is rooted in substance abuse, mental health or an unmet basic need, addressing the cause can help prevent future crime.

King County’s community courts are working to stop that revolving door, strengthening community safety while improving individuals’ lives with little additional investment of court resources. Early indications are promising; the court should waste no time in expanding to more communities.

The District Court alternative, which is available to defendants in Burien and Redmond, will add a third location at Shoreline City Hall in January. A fourth community court is scheduled to open in Auburn later in the year. Chief Presiding Judge Donna Tucker said in an interview that she’d like to continue to expand.

Like other specialty courts, community court requires active engagement from defendants, who are called participants, to reflect this expectation. Nonviolent offenders charged with misdemeanors like theft or trespass can opt in to this court, which is designed to help them succeed. The courts are developed in collaboration with city governments, which help guide the court’s operation, including deciding the types of eligible cases.

Once a judge, prosecutor and defense attorney agree to move a case to community court, the participant is required to appear weekly before a judge and to comply with the court’s conditions. Usually, they include a combination of community service and following up on referrals for services such as substance-abuse or mental-health evaluation and treatment, housing assistance, health insurance or education. Volunteers and service providers give support by holding an adjacent community resource center, open to anyone but deliberately held while court is in session so that participants can immediately connect with organizations offering help.

That has been key to community court’s edge over traditional court, where court appearances can be spread over weeks or months and defendants often struggle to comply with court orders, participants say. They lose the paperwork, miss appointments, slide back into bad habits. In community court, resources and sanctions are much more immediate, with most cases reaching resolution within 12-16 weeks.

“Empirically it’s been much better for my clients,” said Redmond public defender Stephen Lotzkar. “More people are doing a better job of at least trying to be in compliance.”

Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 20, 124 cases were handled by Redmond community court. Of those, 54 participants were successful in meeting the court’s conditions. Only five had failed to do so. Burien’s community court had 24 participants, including four who met the conditions and four who did not. When participants don’t “graduate” from the court, a judge determines their innocence or guilt based on the police report — a stipulation participants agree to upon opting in to community court.

It is too soon to measure the courts’ impact on recidivism, although a recent Washington State Institute for Criminal Justice evaluation of the City of Spokane Municipal Community Court — which was used as a model for the King County system — found significant reductions. About 30% of community court participants faced new charges within a year, compared with around 46% of those in traditional court.

This reduction is significant, both for the individuals and the communities that are spared the cost of continued criminal activity.

Equally important, community court helps mend frayed social fabric by reengaging participants with their communities and their own success.