People in sobriety court undergo intensive counseling, reporting, testing and are required to participate in treatments such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Furthermore, people in this program can actually regain their drivers’ license, which isn’t offered in any other type of probation. 

Eleven people recently graduated from the court, marking the end to more than a year of counseling, reporting and testing. 

“This program is for people who have a strong addiction to alcohol or drugs,” Judge Andrea Larkin said. “This is a way to not only get out of the justice system, but to become a sober person and help the community again.”

According to a 2014 Michigan Supreme Court report, “Solving Problems, Saving Lives,” participants in sobriety courts and adult district drug courts were 75 percent less likely to be convicted of any new offense after two years.

Larkin is the judge who presides over the sobriety court. She founded the court program with Lisa Smith, who previously oversaw a program called progressive sentencing, which worked to do similar things but didn’t have the same amount of funding.

The two women saw a need for such a court in East Lansing because of the amount of repeat drug and alcohol offenders that were continually appearing in court and who were not getting better, Larkin said.

Courts like 54A in Mason have had long standing sobriety courts, but Larkin said East Lansing and Lansing see far more people who are struggling with an alcohol or drug addiction and those people had no option of sobriety court until September of 2014, when it began.

“Since then I’ve seen lives change,” Larkin said. “I see changes in their willingness to smile, their skin tone, their attitudes.”

For Larkin, presiding over sobriety court is much more time consuming than presiding over people on regular probation. Larkin meets with sobriety court members — of which there are now roughly 40 — on a weekly basis, supervising their alcohol use and coordinating with counselors.

“A lot of this process falls on her,” Smith said. “You can’t have sobriety court without hard working people behind and everyone involved loves this court and what they do.”

Larkin said the goal of the sobriety court moving forward is to graduate more people and return once damaged lives back to the community in the form of sober, contributing members.

“We really just want to continue changing lives,” Larkin said. “This court and the people behind the scenes, we’re all in this to see people regain control of their lives.”