Local courts are blocking certain frequent offenders from the alternative ‘warm handoffs’ justice system. The City Attorney Ann Davison made a request to the court to bar certain repeat offenders from the program. This means not having their cases moved to Seattle Community Court. The request was granted last week.
City Attorney Davison filed the request augmenting the criteria for her High Utilizer Program. It allows low-level misdemeanor offenders to be paired with housing assistance and drug treatment instead of incarceration.
The court statement: “Individuals causing the most impact on our community need meaningful accountability for their criminal activity paired with increased behavioral health services. The best venue to ensure appropriate accountability and community safety is in Seattle Municipal Court and my team will continue to engage service providers to address underlying behavioral health needs.”
The High Utilizer Program is made possible through a series of “warm handoffs” between the jail and the court’s pre-trial services. The program was created in 2020 based on an agreement between then City Attorney Pete Holmes and Seattle’s municipal court.
Individuals are connected to services through the Community Resource Center. The Seattle Municipal Court decided to block at least 118 individuals identified by the High Utilizer Program. These individuals each have at least 12 referrals in the last five years and at least one referral in the last eight months.
In a release, the court stated that it blocked these “high utilized” offenders “in the interest of preserving Community Court as an option” for non-violent misdemeanor cases, according to a release. The 118 offenders identified were responsible for more than 2,400 criminal cases over the last five years throughout Seattle.
