The East Lansing 54B District Court will soon implement an adult drug court as its third problem-solving court to address the need to work with non-violent offenders in Ingham County who are addicted to drugs, according to a press release from the city of East Lansing.
According to the release, the court is a collaborative effort of area Ingham County courts and prosecutors along with a $120,000 grant award from the State Court Administrative Office to implement the creation of this court.
“Problem-solving courts are designed as a substitute for putting the defendant in jail and are proven to work by closely supervising defendants through a program of drug treatment, counseling, abstention and drug and alcohol testing,” 54B District Court Chief Judge Andrea Andrews Larkin said in the release. “Participants in these specialty treatment courts are far less likely to reoffend as demonstrated by extensive follow-up analysis.”
The court will handle a maximum of 30 participants to allow for the effective use of available treatment services and resources. According to the release, entry into the program is based on the recommendation of the respective city or county prosecutor and the drug court treatment team.
The program is expected to be up and running by Oct. 18.
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