After a person is referred to the probation department, a computer-based screening and assessment test gives the probation officer the ability to determine the level of necessary treatment to reduce the probability of continued offenses.  The probation officer will review the test results and may interview the defendant to make an independent determination of the defendant’s treatment needs and level of supervision.  Based upon these evaluations, the probation officer makes his report and recommendations for sentencing in writing (the pre-sentence report).  The defendant and his attorney review the report and recommendations and return to the courtroom where the judge hears any objections to the officer’s recommendations they may have and then sentences the defendant.   

All of this, however, is done in one day.  This landmark program allows the court to accept a plea, conduct a pre-sentence investigation, sentence, and schedule the defendant for treatment and punitive programs on the pre-trial date.  Approximately 90% of the defendants sentenced in 2001 were done on the same day they pled.  This means the court does not have to reschedule the matter on another day.  This allows the defendant to avoid additional trips to the court and allows the court to schedule additional matters in its place.

When sentenced to the 35^th District Court Work Detail Program, participants are required to perform a specified number of days service (with one day equaling eight hours of work). Tasks may include sweeping, landscaping, painting and picking up of litter in our parks and along our roads.  This work is done at project sites within the court’s jurisdiction on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year.  Two full-sized, 12 passenger vans transport participants to the work sites where they are required to wear bright orange vests bearing the words “35^th District Court Work Detail” in large print across the back.  The purpose of the vest is safety and to notify the public that the individual is a participant in the Work Detail program.

This program is usually employed in lieu of jail; both the defendant and the communities benefit from the use of this jail alternative.  The community gains from the aesthetic enhancement of the projects and the money saved that would have to be paid to house the defendant in jail.  The participant avoids the additional consequences inherent in being sent to jail (i.e. loss of income, separation from their families, etc.) while building a sense of responsibility to the community as a whole.  Since this service is an alternative to jail, participants are required to pay a per day rate to cover the expenses of the program as well as the cost of supervision and supplies.  In addition to the program paying for itself, the communities benefited from over 20,000 hours of labor performed those on work detail in the year 2001. 

Community Service

The court also uses community service programs in sentencing defendants.  Community service is any volunteer work with a non-profit organization.  This program allows the defendant to select an agency near his home or work and select a schedule that will work with his daily activities.  The defendant is given a time frame in which to complete the number of days and there is a fee assessed to the defendant for community service. 

Tether

House arrest, alcohol, and domestic violence tethers are among the different types of tethers that the 35^th District Court has used in the past.  The use of tethers permits the court to more thoroughly supervise a probationer with a substance abuse problem and/or protect the victims of domestic violence.  Violation of a tether often results in the probationer being sent to jail.    

Under the house arrest tether, the defendant is required to lease both an ankle bracelet and computer reporting device.  The costs involved, i.e. a deposit for the devices as well as a per day  fee, are paid by the defendant.  The bracelet is to be worn at all times during the term of the program, and the computer reporting device located in the home tracks whether the defendant is at home or not.  Defendants are usually only allowed to leave their homes for employment and court ordered activities. Should the defendant damage the device in any way, not only will he be charged with a probation violation and be required to pay for the cost of the device that was damaged but he will also be charged criminally.  These services are provided by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Tether Program, which makes arresting violators a priority.

The alcohol tether device, as it name implies, is meant to monitor alcohol level rather than reporting the defendant’s location.  The defendant is required to blow into a device attached to their telephone line.  This device measures the defendant’s blood alcohol content.  If alcohol is detected, the defendant will be brought to court to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for a violation of his probation and punished accordingly.  Violators often go to jail.

In the domestic violence tether program the computer reporting device is installed in the victim’s home.  The defendant wears the tether around his wrist or ankle.  If the defendant comes within a designated range of the victim’s home, the device immediately notifies police officials and emits a warning signal to alert the victim.  The system can also accommodate a device to be carried by the victim around the home to alert the police should their assistance be required.  A violation will also result in further punishment up to and including jail.

Vehicle Immobilization/Confiscation

Since the enactment of the Repeat Offender laws in October 1999, courts are required to immobilize (put out of action)  vehicles used by drunk drivers for a minimum of 90 days. 

The 35^th District Court was the first court to use a state-of-the-art tether immobilization system that prohibits the use of the vehicle by the drunk driver but still allows other family members to use the vehicle.  The defendant is required to wear a tether that emits a signal.  If the detection device, located near the gas pedal, detects this signal the ignition system will be immediately disabled and the car will not start.  If the car is running at the time it detects the signal the ignition disablement will occur the next time the car is turned off.  Both require the intervention of the monitoring agency to permit the car to be operated.  A computer record of the offense will also be made.  As with all other probation tether devices, the offender is required to incur the expense of the immobilization and violation would most likely result in being sent to jail.

Jail/Incarceration