SNOHOMISH COUNTY—The Snohomish County Council unanimously passed a resolution on Wednesday, May 14, recognizing May as National Treatment Court Month. The resolution was introduced and motioned by Councilwoman Megan Dunn and seconded by Councilman Sam Low.
Incoming Snohomish County District Court Judge Beth Fraser spoke on behalf of this resolution.
“We just want to thank all of you so much for the acknowledgement of National Treatment Court Month and therapeutic courts,” said Judge Fraser. “There is so much need within our community and that need isn’t decreasing at all…Our therapeutic courts really have the opportunity of giving the additional help that some of our community need in order to be successful. In helping with their success spills over with help for the community.”
Snohomish County has provided over 25 years of therapeutic court interventions through Superior Court Adult Recovery Court and Family Recovery Court, as well as in District Court through the Mental Health Court.
The Department of Social and Health Services found that cost savings due to crime reductions created a $4 return on every tax dollar invested in a Washington State drug court and analyses of mental health courts and family treatment courts in Washington State have shown savings from reduced recidivism, lower rates of hospitalization, fewer emergency department visits, less involvement in the child welfare system, and fewer children born drug affected.
Therapeutic courts have an upstream impact, the resolution states, helping to interrupt what is often a generational cycle of substance use and legal involvement and to prevent adverse childhood experiences with parental substance use, incarceration, and foster care.
Therapeutic courts provide treatment, case management, peer support, judicial oversight, comprehensive resources, structure, expectations, and accountability, the resolution further states that address the root causes of criminal behavior, child abuse, and neglect to support long term recovery.
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