On Wednesday, Oct. 15, the Oakland County Adult Treatment Court (ATC) conducted its 40th graduation since its inception. The 177th through the 185th graduates were honored with a ceremony and reception held in the Oakland County Commissioners Auditorium at the Oakland County Courthouse in Pontiac. Among those taking part in the ceremony were (front row, l-r) Kametra Rouser, David Nelson, Oakland County Circuit Court Judges Joan Young and Colleen O’Brien, Jaquinn Modica-Lathon, and William Rowe, (back ) Mike Stevens, James Wagner, and Daniel Pusta. The ATC has served 531 participants to date. It is a four-phase intervention program for non-violent, felony offenders who find it difficult to maintain sobriety. Without the ATC program, these individuals would otherwise be facing a probable sentence of months, if not years, in jail or prison. The program’s key elements are: extremely close judicial and community supervision, intense substance-abuse treatment, frequent substance abuse testing and a long-term commitment to program requirements. In addition, the participants are expected to find and maintain employment, consistently participate in treatment, pay court costs, including restitution to the victims of their crimes, and take responsibility for the support of their children. 

 

 Photo by John Meiu

headlines Detroit

• test2
• test1
• drewtesttwo
• test
• test article 2

headlines National

• Facing deadline, California debates way forward on bar exam
• ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
• Jury awards nearly $60M to former police officer for wrongful prosecution in sex assault case
• Court clerk staffers in New Orleans dig through landfill to find wrongly tossed court records
• Once-jailed county clerk asks Supreme Court to overturn right to same-sex marriage
• Person accused in machete attack among those with dropped charges amid defense lawyer work stoppage