Homeless Courts
What are Homeless Courts?
Homeless courts are special court sessions held in a local shelter or other community site designed for homeless citizens to resolve outstanding misdemeanor criminal warrants (principally "quality-of-life" infractions such as unauthorized removal of a shopping cart, disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, and sleeping on a sidewalk or on the beach). Resolution of outstanding warrants not only meets a fundamental need of homeless people but also eases court case-processing backlogs and reduces vagrancy. Homeless people tend to be fearful of attending court, yet their outstanding warrants limit their reintegration into society, deterring them from using social services and impeding their access to employment. They are effectively blocked from obtaining driver's licenses, job applications, and rental agreements.
In 1999 the first homeless court was established as an outgrowth of San Diego's Veterans' Stand-Down Program. That program annually offers services to the homeless, the majority of whom are veterans. The San Diego Homeless Court meets monthly, alternately at Saint Vincent de Paul (San Diego's largest homeless shelter) and the Vietnam Veterans of San Diego Shelter.
Los Angeles started its homeless court in November 2000. This court is designed on a model similar to the court in San Diego, with court sessions held at community facilities that serve the homeless, such as the Salvation Army. The court addresses quality-of-life offenses that have gone to warrant and provides sentencing, involving participation in treatment and community service, that can clear the offense. Courts in Alameda and Ventura Counties have also begun holding homeless court sessions. The Ventura Court's work was presented at the 2002 National Association for Court Management Conference.
Special court sessions held in the community by the Ventura court address outstanding cases and unique problems of criminally accused homeless individuals. This approach reduces the need for numerous hearings, saving court time and costs. These courts combine plea bargaining with alternative sentencing that substitutes counseling, volunteer work, and participation in agency programs for the traditional fines, public work service, and custody. Defendants are given credit for having entered a shelter, done volunteer work, or enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous or other self-help and education programs.
The San Diego Homeless Court received initial federal funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) conducted an evaluation that noted over 700 cases (for 266 participants) were resolved between October 1999 and February 2001.
Data collected from participant surveys suggest that individuals' participation in the homeless court program improved their attitudes toward law enforcement and increased their satisfaction with court processes, court staff, and the court system as a whole. A copy of the SANDAG report, San Diego Homeless Court Program: A Process and Impact Evaluation, is available upon request from the Administrative Office of the Courts. For more information, please contact Nancy Taylor at nancy.taylor@jud.ca.gov.
Resources
Reaching Out to Homeless Courts
The Collaborative Justice Courts Project started the Homeless Court Outreach Initiative with collaborative justice courts to enable similar courts to benefit from the experiences of their peers. The initiative gathered like-minded practitioners at a recent forum (PDF, 8 KB) to share their programs and case processing strategies. Homeless Courts Outreach Initiative (PDF, 8 KB)
SANDAG San Diego Homeless Court Program: A Process and Impact Evaluation, (2002) (PDF, 7,024 KB). Contact the San Diego Association of Governments at 619-595-5300 for more information.
Last modified: 02/09/2009
