Program Description

King County Treatment Court, Washington State

Overview

The King County Juvenile Treatment Court, begun in November 2003, serves approximately 30 youth per year with co-occurring Axis I psychiatric disorders (excluding Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, paraphilia or pedophilia) and Substance Abuse or Dependency Disorder who are also identified as moderate to high risk for re-offending. The court excludes most violent felons and sex offenders. The Treatment Court primarily serves targeted high risk areas of King County, but occasionally also serves youth on the periphery of these areas. The court is part of the Reclaiming Futures Initiative, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funds certain administrative positions within the probation department. Services are funded through court fees, Medicaid, and Foundation support. The large majority of the court’s participants are involved with the court pre-adjudication, with the understanding that successful completion of the court’s requirements can result in the dismissal of charges. These youth are screened at probation intake. Results of this screen are given to the youth’s attorney, who may then request an assessment and consideration for the program. No youth has declined participation to date. The average length of court involvement is 12 months.

Court participants receive multi-systemic therapy (MST), which includes substance abuse interventions and family therapy. Each youth is also assigned an advocacy team coordinator responsible for case management, wraparound services, and facilitating linkages with community providers. This coordinator plays a minor role while the youth is involved in MST, but becomes more active as the youth’s involvement with the court approaches its end. Finally, the court offers enrolled youth a mentoring program. Progress and treatment compliance are monitored by monthly judicial reviews and reports from probation officers and treatment providers. In the event of non-compliance, the court has several sanctions it may impose, including work crew, electronic monitoring, and detox. Furthermore, the court may opt not to remove the charges from the youth’s record.

The court actively works to initiate systems change by operating the Treatment Court within the three current juvenile courts (instead of through a separate court) and through dedicated treatment teams (including the judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, juvenile probation counselor, mental health/substance abuse clinician, police officer, and an advocacy team liaison). Such an approach has resulted in some challenges associated with the fact that both attorneys and probation officers rotate with respect to their involvement with the court. However, this has also promoted the court’s goal of encouraging systems change by involving all players and educating a larger number of individuals who are involved with these youth.

Reference

Interview with Margaret Tumulty, Project Director, Reclaiming Futures, Seattle, WA, March 24, 2005.

Program Contact

Margaret Tumulty, Reclaiming Futures Project Director
Juvenile Treatment Court
1211 East Alder
Seattle, WA 98122
Phone: 206-205-9425