Early Intervention

The 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, in collaboration with the Court, the Commissioner, the Public Defender’s Office, the Specialty Court Program staff, and local advocacy agencies, have worked over the last year to develop the new Early Intervention Program. This program is an alternative way to process offenders who are non-violent, low-risk, and who have mental health issues and/or drug or alcohol addiction.

Eligible defendants, with the assistance of their public defenders, sign a plea agreement prior to the D.A.’s Office filing a formal conviction. It moves these pre-identified offenders much more quickly into a Specialty Court. There they will receive supervision and get the treatment they need to regain their roles as productive members of our community.

Moving qualified individuals expeditiously out of jail and into a Special Court Program eliminates lengthy and costly pre-trial detention. It costs taxpayers $30 per day to house an individual in jail. It is estimated that the Early Intervention Program will save taxpayers between $500,000 and $1,000,000 per year. Another benefit is the decreased likelihood that these individuals will re-offend. Our Specialty Courts have already proven to be successful with an 8-12% recidivism rate for those who complete the program. (The statewide average recidivism rate for those who commit a felony is 50%.) It is our expectation, that this program will further reduce recidivism.

The process to place an individual in a Special Court now takes approximately 2 weeks instead of the average 2 months that these defendants would normally have been waiting in jail. The process is as follows:

· Individuals, along with their defense attorney, within 72 hours after their arrest, appear before Commissioner Dan Foil at their 72-hour hearing.

· They are interviewed by Specialty Court coordinators who follow an agreed-upon protocol and profile of the type of person who would qualify for the program based on their criminal history and the offense(s) they committed.

· Every Friday, all involved agencies meet to discuss cases and move them along. If the individual is approved, he or she is scheduled to appear before Judge Swartz in his Early Intervention Court, and sign the plea agreement.

· The plea agreement, agreed upon by the D.A.’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office, is designed to protect the offender. At any time in this process, they can choose to return their case back to the criminal justice system.

Interim D.A. Collin Sims weighed in on this process in a recent interview:

“For a decade or more, a person wasn’t placed into a Specialty Court until a paper file came into the D.A.’s Office. Then a felony charge was brought, and an ADA was assigned to the case. Then, there would be a dialog between the defense attorney and the ADA as to whether a Specialty Court was available or appropriate for their client. That process would take 45 to 60 (or more) days after they’d been arrested and been in jail. If they’re indigent and can’t make bail, they are languishing in jail not getting any addiction or mental health treatment. So, whatever level of deterioration they had that led them to be in jail, it’s now exponentially worse. If we can expedite the review of something, we should do it.

Most people don’t want to plead guilty until their attorney reads everything. In this program, they can make a decision right away -- because the agreement protects that individual’s rights. If, after all the paperwork and evidence is gathered, the individual does not want to continue, they can proceed along the legal track, and the agreement is null and void. The worst that can happen is that they’re in treatment during this time, not in jail. And the citizens haven’t paid. There’s no reason for a person to sit in jail for so long just waiting for the system to complete itself.”