Specialty courts set to expand with new funding

CARSON CITY — Nevada’s specialty courts are set to expand significantly with the infusion of $3 million a year in new funding provided by the 2015 Legislature, court officials said Monday.

The new funding that starts July 1 will provide specialty court services to an additional 800 to 900 participants. In addition, lawmakers and Gov. Brian Sandoval allocated $1.4 million to restore specialty court funding to current levels. The funding erases an anticipated 15 percent shortfall due to lower court assessment fee collections.

Specialty courts are designed to divert drug, mental health, DUI and military veteran criminal offenders from jail time or state prison.

Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice James Hardesty said the additional money will create opportunities in the rural courts that have not existed before and will allow courts to expand diversion programs to move people out of jails and into court-monitored therapeutic intervention programs.

The Specialty Court Funding Committee of the Supreme Court will meet at 1 p.m. Aug. 21 in Carson City to consider how to appropriate the additional funding to Nevada’s specialty courts.

“Maintaining the funding level for specialty courts is so important to the people we serve in Southern Nevada,” said Judge Adriana Escobar, specialty court judge for the Clark County District Court. “This means intervention and therapeutic programs will continue to provide individuals with a way to break the cycle of addiction while saving millions of dollars in taxes by decreasing repeated incarceration and making our communities safer.”

Justice Michael Douglas, chairman of the Specialty Court Funding Committee, said support for the additional funding shows that lawmakers “understand it is better to give people an opportunity to improve their condition — whether it be from drugs, alcohol or mental health — rather than place them in jails and increase the burden on taxpayers for funding incarceration.”

Senior Judge Peter Breen created Washoe County’s drug court in 1995. Since then, the court has helped thousands break drug habits and return to a productive life. Specialty courts have saved incarceration costs and allowed individuals to learn new skills.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801.