A South Salt Lake Justice Court program is working to address the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness who come through the system. Community Court, which is funded by a $586,000 Department of Justice grant, helps people experiencing homelessness who have substance abuse and mental health issues. The program, started in 2024, employs a judicial case manager and a legal services coordinator and operates biweekly, handling around 40 to 50 hearings.

The need for a customized approach to handling cases of crimes allegedly committed by people experiencing homelessness became apparent after the Pamela Atkinson Resource Center opened in the city in 2019. 

“That put more pressure on various South Salt Lake services, including the police department and the court and the fire department,” Administrator Lisa Forrester said. “So being proactive as South Salt Lake is, the South Salt Lake Police Department created a new unit called Homeless Resources.”

Under the new program, police officers are given additional training to help them work with vulnerable individuals. The Community Court program is an outgrowth of these efforts, Forrester said.

Implemented last year, the program is specifically designed to help the population experiencing homelessness who are struggling with substance abuse and/or mental health challenges and through those challenges may have committed misdemeanors such as criminal trespass, intoxication, public urination or unlawful camping in South Salt Lake.

After those individuals are charged, they often become overwhelmed and even if they desire to take care of the problem, they don’t show up for their court dates, Forrester said.

“Sometimes they don't come to court because they just don't really care,” she said. “If they're living on the streets, it doesn't matter to them if they're not trying to get jobs, that kind of stuff. Some of them have trauma associated with law enforcement. Some of them just don't have the life skills to figure out how to manage a calendar, to remember when and how to get there.”

At this point the case manager and a legal services coordinator can step in to help the individual. If they are staying at the Pamela Atkinson Resource Center an employee there, funded by the DOJ grant, establishes relationships with these individuals to help them understand the process of appearing in court, Forrester said.

The coordinator can then meet with the individual to discuss their case and where appropriate refer them to the prosecutor to get the charges dismissed. This can be done through granting a plea in abeyance where the offender agrees to certain conditions such as community service and commits to not having any new charges within a certain time period. If the offender follows through charges can be dismissed within six months.

“It's that individualized planning that comes with accountability,” Forrester said. “You have this court case; you're here for a reason. You broke a law. We need to address that, but the way we're going to address that is to help you get the services you need so that you won't feel like you need to break that law in the future to meet your basic needs.”

Customizing the approach to the needs of the individual is key to the success of the program, she said.

“Everybody's an individual; we can't just send them out the door and say, ‘Go take care of this,’” she said. “No, we're going to help them through that process.”

This benefits not just the person experiencing homelessness but the entire community, Forrester said. “Our whole community, needs to have that accountability piece, because as residents, we feel like we should not have to deal with individuals who are sleeping on our back porch or, whatever it is, right?” 

Although it’s early days for the program, which has been funded through 2027, Forrester said police officers and personnel involved in the program have high hopes.

“Hopefully all of these things together will decrease recidivism, so we won't be seeing these people coming back into our court time and time again with the same charge,” she said. “We're trying to give them the resources and the skills so that they don't have to commit those crimes again.”

Along with Community Court, South Salt Lake offers all residents free twice-monthly classes about justice court and the legal system. These classes can be valuable for anyone unfamiliar with the U.S. legal system, Forrester said. More information may be found at www.sslc.gov/493/Community-Court.λ