Court Clinician

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

In 2014, with funding from the Office of Justice Programs, Chesterfield County hired a licensed clinician to work in the County Courthouse. This role provided support, consultation, and assessment services to individuals with misdemeanant offenses who have a behavioral health illness. The goal of this program is to divert these individuals away from unnecessary incarceration and/or steer them towards treatment and support sources that may mitigate or eliminate those variables that influence or cause further criminal behaviors. For some the option of treatment for a substance use problem instead of time served will be the Court mandate, for others a combination of sanctions and treatment will be mandated. In both cases the individual has been exposed to a new way of looking at what got them before the courts and an alternative to jail.