Title
Request to Establish the Phoenix Community Court (Ordinance S-50026)
Description
Request authorization for the City Manager, or his designee, to establish the Phoenix Community through the creation of 11 City positions and the appropriation of a rapid response funding. Further requests to enter into contracts to provide navigation services throughout the community, within jail facilities, and during court proceedings.
Report
Summary
The Phoenix Municipal Court, in partnership with the City's Prosecutor's Office and Public Defender's Office, currently offers three Specialty Courts. These Specialty Courts are considered problem-solving courts that rely on evidence-based best practices and procedures to provide long-term solutions to offenders through an alternative path to traditional criminal justice systems. The current courts include the Phoenix Veterans Court, Phoenix Behavioral Health Court and the Maricopa County Regional Homeless Court.
The Veterans Court is a problem-solving alternative court that addresses the unique needs of defendants who are veterans of the United States Armed Forces. The goal of Veterans Court is to restore veterans to being successful, contributing members of the community by ensuring that veterans entering the criminal justice system make contact with specific programs to address the root causes of the behavior that resulted in the veteran becoming a defendant in the criminal justice system.
The Behavioral Health Court (BHC) is a problem-solving alternative court setting, for the unique needs of individuals with certain mental illnesses. The many goals of BHC include: reduced recidivism and incarceration of individuals with mental illness through early intervention and increased treatment engagement, collaboration and coordination with criminal justice, mental health, and other community partners.
The Maricopa County Regional Homeless Court (MCRHC) is a regional court that Phoenix participates in, which is designed to resolve outstanding issues, such as addressing fines and other barriers for individuals experiencing homelessness who demonstrate commitment to end their homelessness. This court is focused on individuals who have already been through the judicial system. Creation of the City's Community Court would allow a dedicated court to be created that engages all stakeholders in a more robust specialty court process, which engages with individuals as they enter the Municipal Court process.
Each of the City's Specialty Courts have resulted in positive outcomes for individuals and for the community. However, a continuing and significant challenge for the community is assisting individuals currently experiencing homelessness. This challenge has resulted in unsheltered members of the community often being cited or arrested on minor charges, such as trespassing, and entering into the traditional criminal justice system with limited opportunities to seek services, establish stable housing, or access other resources. In order to better assist with this challenge, staff from the Municipal Court, Prosecutor's Office, Public Defender, and the City's Office of Homeless Solutions recommend establishing a new Specialty Court, the Phoenix Community Court. The Community Court will be based on best practices from other communities, such as the City of Mesa, that have provided an alternative approach outside of the traditional criminal justice systems to better support individuals currently experiencing homelessness.
The Phoenix Community Court will be a collaborative effort with staff from multiple City departments, including the Municipal Court, Police, City Prosecutor's Office, Public Defender, and Homeless Solutions. Attachment A provides a process flow of how the Phoenix Community Court will operate.The proposed Phoenix Community Court process is initiated through identification of individuals that have been cited or booked for criminal behavior. Staff recommend that all violations considered by the Phoenix Municipal Court, except domestic violence offenses and assaults, are eligible for the Community Court process.
Identification
There are two primary ways that an individual would be identified to be entered into the Phoenix Community Court. These include through citation/complaint, at arraignment, or during the booking process and court proceedings in County jail.
One option is through a citation from the Phoenix Police Department or a complaint from the City Prosecutor's Office. Staff recommends that citations proceed through the normal arraignment process. During the arraignment, staff from the City Prosecutor's Office, Public Defender's Office, and Municipal Court will identify individuals eligible to enter into the Community Court.
A second option for an individual to be entered into Phoenix Community Court is after the individual into jail following a violation and arrest. The Office of Homeless Solutions will have navigators to help assist the individual with navigation of available resources and work with staff from other departments to determine eligibility for Community Court. Ideally, this will occur during the individual's appearance at Jail Court.
Court Interaction and Navigation
Once identified as eligible for Phoenix Community Court, navigators and staff assigned to each case will assist individuals throughout the duration of the remaining process. The Community Court Team include representation from the Municipal Court, Prosecutor's Office, Public Defender and Homeless Solutions. The process includes three primary steps with regular court appearances throughout, to ensure the individual is maintaining progress.
These steps include:
Needs Assessment and Screening - During this step, the Community Court Team meet to discuss the individual. Once approved, the navigator provides the individual with the option for Community Court. If the individual accepts, a customized services plan is then created.
Customized Service Plan - The plan details the required progress for the individual to proceed through the Community Court. An example of a milestone in the service plan could include establishing more stable housing. While progressing through the customized service plan, the individual will have regular court appearances and the Community Court Team will update the service plan based on the program participation.
Resolution - If the individual is able to complete their customized service plan, the individual will graduate from Phoenix Community Court. This graduation will result in either the dismissal of the person's case, a reduced charge, or a suspended sentence. If the individual does not complete their customized service plan, the individual will not graduate from the Phoenix Community Court and will be returned to regular court proceedings.
By initiating the Phoenix Community Court as outlined in this report, the City will be able to assist, empower and provide individuals with the tools and resources necessary to establish stable housing, receive services to assist with addiction, connect with mental health professionals, and reduce the tendency of criminal behavior to become cyclical. The Phoenix Community Court will be centered around a holistic and compassionate approach to provide long-term solutions that will positively impact individuals currently experiencing homelessness, and benefit the entire community.
Recommendation
In order to establish the Phoenix Community Court, staff recommends adding 11 full-time positions across several City departments, hiring 10 contracted navigators, creating the availability of rapid response funding, and purchasing equipment and other administrative needs, for an annual cost of an approximately $2.3 million. Attachment B provides a detailed breakdown of the annual and one-time costs associated with the recommendation.
The 11 full-time positions will include the following:
Assistant City Attorney III in the Public Defender's Office
Legal Assistant in the Public Defender's Office
Casework Services Coordinator in the Public Defender's Office
Two Attorney IIIs in the Prosecutor's Office
Court/Legal Clerk I in the Prosecutor's Office
Legal Assistant in the Prosecutor's Office
Administrative Assistant II in the Prosecutor's Office
Two Bailiffs in the Municipal Court
Program Manager in the Office of Homeless Solutions
The 10 contracted staff will include the following:
One lead navigator helping manage the entire navigation team
Two court navigators focused on working with individuals identified in regular court proceedings
Three external navigators engaged throughout the community at the early stages of the Community Court process
Four jail navigators to assist individuals entering through Jail Court
Additionally, the rapid response funding will enable staff to quickly support individuals seeking stable housing, at risk of losing housing, or other related challenges or needs.
Financial Impact
Staff estimates the annual cost of establishing the Phoenix Community Court will be approximately $2.3 million with one-time costs of $45,000 for vehicles and other equipment. Costs will be incorporated into the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 estimate and FY 2024-25 budget during the annual technical review process.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
On June 14, 2023, the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee recommended approval by the City Council to establish the Phoenix Community Court.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Lori Bays, and the Police, Law, City Prosecutor, Public Defender and Homeless Solutions departments.