U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services Award Almost $76 Million to Enhance Adult and Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded nearly $76 million in Fiscal Year 2010 grants to enhance the court services, coordination, and substance abuse treatment capacity of adult and juvenile drug treatment courts.  Drug courts promote treatment approaches rather than traditional incarceration for people drawn into the criminal justice system because of substance abuse related problems.

There are more than 2,200 drug court programs currently providing services to adults and juveniles across the nation.  In judicially supervised settings, these specialized courts effectively integrate substance abuse treatment, mandatory drug testing, sanctions and incentives, and support services needed to recover and steer clear of further involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice system.

"We know that drug courts are central to reducing drug abuse and to keeping communities safe.  These grants will help communities launch new drug courts and enhance courts where they already exist," said Laurie O. Robinson, OJP's Assistant Attorney General.  "Our National Institute of Justice recently released preliminary findings from its five-year, multi-site evaluation of adult drug courts.  The early analysis shows that after 6 months, and again after 18 months, drug court participants reported less drug-related and criminal activity."

"SAMHSA and DOJ are committed to building on the success of treatment drug courts by bolstering their ability to provide essential alcohol and drug treatment, recovery support, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination services to thousands of people working to free themselves from lives of substance abuse and crime," said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. "These efforts are critically important since more than 60 percent of all people in state and federal prisons and local jails have substance abuse problems.  By effectively addressing these substance abuse problems our nation can significantly reduce crime, lessen the burden on the criminal justice system and restore countless lives."

Joint SAMHSA/BJA program to enhance adult court services, coordination and treatment—SAMHSA and BJA will provide as much as $28.5 million to 28 treatment drug courts across the country.  This joint initiative allows the drug court grantees to weave together federal funding sources to create a comprehensive full range of court and offender management services, behavioral health and support services to:

• Capitalize on existing funding and services to meet the needs of drug court administrators and treatment service providers;
• Maintain accountability and integrity of both the SAMHSA and BJA funding streams;
• Prevent duplication of services; and
• Facilitate the development of innovative programmatic enhancements.

In Fiscal Year 2010, each drug court grantee will receive two separate awards totaling as much as $625,000.  BJA will make a one-time award of up to $300,000 to fund the court component and SAMHSA will award $325,000 to fund the substance abuse treatment component. Thereafter, SAMHSA will make annual awards of as much as $325,000 per grantee for each of the remaining two years of the grant period.

SAMHSA grants to expand substance abuse treatment capacity for adult drug treatment courts—SAMHSA is awarding up to $14.7 million for the next three years in grants to expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services provided by treatment drug courts to adult defendants/offenders with substance abuse problems. It is expected that approximately $4.9 million per year will be available to fund up to 18 grants. Awardees are eligible for up to $325,000 per year for up to three years.

SAMHSA grants to expand the substance abuse treatment capacity of Juvenile Treatment Drug Courts—SAMHSA is awarding a total of up to $7.7 million in grants for three years for expanding and enhancing the substance abuse treatment capacity in eight juvenile treatment drug courts throughout the nation.  The additional funding will allow the eight grantees to provide alcohol and drug treatment, recovery support services and program coordination to juvenile defendants/defenders. Awardees are eligible for up to $325,000 per year for up to three years.

Joint SAMHSA/OJJDP grants to expand the substance abuse treatment capacity of juvenile treatment drug courts—Since 2007, OJJDP and SAMHSA have partnered with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to integrate the Reclaiming Futures model, which uses a six-step model to detect substance abuse and to provide services and support to youth, with the drug courts model.  In Fiscal Year 2010, OJJDP awarded a total of more than $1.2 million to three jurisdictions (as much as $425,000 per jurisdiction). Over the four-year project period, SAMHSA is making supplemental awards of as much as $200,000 per year to each jurisdiction. The SAMHSA awards are expected to total as much as $2.4 million. OJJDP funds support the operation of the drug courts, while SAMHSA funds go toward the drug treatment component of the courts. To date, the partnership has made nine awards.

BJA grants to expand and enhance adult drug courts—BJA awarded 78 grants totaling nearly $21 million to provide for new adult drug courts and to enhance existing adult drug courts.

The actual award amounts for all of these drug court programs may vary depending on the availability of funds and the progress made by the grantees.  Detailed information on the SAMHSA awardees will be available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/Grants/2010/fy2010.aspx.

Details about the Department of Justice grants are available at:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/funding/FY2010_awards_solicitation.htm.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Laurie O. Robinson, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims.  OJP has seven bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; the Community Capacity Development Office, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART).  More information about OJP and its components can be found at http://www.ojp.gov.

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SOURCE Office of Justice Programs