What’s the best way to hold someone responsible for low-level crimes?

Many times, the justice system simply acts as a revolving door for those who find themselves on the wrong side of the law. According to a 2018 Washington State Department of Social and Health Services study, despite the traditional punishments of fines and incarceration, 30% of those convicted of a misdemeanor went on to be charged with a new crime within a year.

Enumclaw’s Community Court program believes there’s a better way to help people stay out of trouble.

The program started last fall, and it’s celebrating its first four graduates on July 11.

This means that there’s little data at the moment that would help determine if the program is a success overall, but Enumclaw prosecutor Krista Swain and program manager Somer Johnson say they’ve seen participants make great strides toward finding housing, employment, drug treatment, or mental health services — all factors that often contribute to helping people stay on the right side of the law — while they work on giving back to their community for what landed them in Community Court in the first place.

“I think it’s giving them purpose,” Johnson said, “which in return is going to give us better people back out in our community.”

Here’s how Community Court — sometimes called a Mental Health Court — works locally, in a nutshell.

Swain is the gatekeeper and personally approves which people can participate in the program. There are people she won’t consider outright — anyone accused of a sexual crime, for example, or those with certain prior felony convictions — but “I look at every individual, their crimes charged and criminal history before making a decision,” she said. “Sometimes, I consider for months before allowing a person into the program as they have to show that they really want to be involved and really want the change.”

Once they’re enrolled — the program has about 20 participants now — Johnson takes over.

Johnson openly admits that she was a heavy drug and alcohol user years ago, because this allows her to connect with some of the people she works with on a very personal level. After getting sober, she became a drug and alcohol counselor, and the way she advocated for her patients in court got Swain’s eye (she’s a judge in Sumner); when a grant became available to start a Community Court program in Enumclaw, Swain knew exactly who to recruit to help start it.

Johnson also runs similar programs in Sumner and Black Diamond.

Her goal is to provide Community Court participants with “wrap-around” care by helping them find services that they need in order to both successfully navigating the program and graduate in a better place than where they started.

Johnson also helps find ways participants can give back to their community.

“I like to get creative based on the person,” she said, adding that she tries to individualize how a Community Court participant navigates the program, especially the community service aspect. “For example, I have a guy on house and arrest and couldn’t get out to do community service, but he can do some amazing woodwork, so I have him making canes for the senior center.”

Other examples include helping police officers on ride-alongs or volunteering with local nonprofits.

In addition to being required to constantly check in with Johnson and attend peer therapy sessions, participants also have to attend Community Court hearings, which is held in the Enumclaw courtroom at City Hall every second Tuesday of the month. There, Johnson and Swain give updates to Judge Robert Hamilton about program participants.

Many of the updates are good — someone successfully attended consecutive AA meetings, or met a milestone in their community service — but Johnson and Swain are also not afraid to tell the court if someone is not making enough progress, and might recommend they be un-enrolled from the program.

That’s when Hamilton comes in. Successfully navigating Community Court would mean having charges dropped or sentences reduced, but if participants are found to not be in good standing and are un-enrolled, Hamilton could skip a trial and unilaterally render a judgement based on police reports.

To say Hamilton started off skeptical about the program is putting it nicely.

“I was not a fan at all… I was opposed to it,” he said after June’s Community Court session. But “I believe in giving things a try.”

So week after week, he heard from Swain and Johnson how program participants were succeeding in improving their lives and their community, and at some point — Johnson can’t figure quite when — “it dawned on me… that some of these people had never, ever had a success in their life.”

“And this gives a number of good candidates the chance to thrive,” he continued. “It’s providing structure, and in a positive way.”

The structure and support that comes from Community Court has shown to be effective in other programs — that 2018 state study showed that only 19% those who went through King County’s Mental Health Court program only committed another misdemeanor within a year, cutting the recidivism rate nearly in half.

Hamilton, Johnson, and Swain all stressed how the Community Court program actually holds participants more accountable than if they went through the regular court system and got slapped with jail time or a fine.

“To have the opportunity to go into community court, they have to work their tushies off,” Johnson said. “They’re held accountable to the highest level.”

Soon-to-be-graduate Jaydn Bond experienced this firsthand.

Bond was arrested in 2022 for a DUI; she said she was dealing with mental health struggles, including anxiety and depression — partially related to COVID-19 pandemic — which led her to make unsafe decisions.

This was her second alcohol-related charge in six years, so she was likely to face harsher penalties this time around if she went to regular court — the prospect of which only served to damage her mental health more.

But she said the Community Court program held her far more accountable to her actions than her first brush with the law, and participating in group sessions, attending therapy, and community service helped her identify why she used alcohol as a crutch and became a healthier person, re-kindled a passion for helping others, and improved her life.

“I think about people who go through [regular court], they’re not seen… the real root of the problem is not being noticed,” Bond said. “In Community Court, we talk about that in this group. We really discuss the mental struggles… it’s so important.”

Her experience in Community Court was so positive, she plans to return as a peer counselor to help other participants after she graduates once the program secures another grant.

“I’m the happiest I have ever been,” she said.