How our ‘mentor court’ strives against violence

The Department of Justice recently named the Kansas City municipal domestic violence court a “mentor court.” This designation comes with a grant of $48,090 and a commitment from the court to mentor others. Courts from around the nation will travel to Kansas City to observe the municipal court domestic violence docket and, more specifically, the “compliance docket,” to learn the best practices for increasing offender accountability. Kansas City is the only municipal court in the nation and the first court in Missouri to receive the mentor court distinction.

The compliance docket began in the Kansas City Municipal Court in January 2015. It is rooted in the evidence-based theory that offenders with increased supervision are least likely to re-offend and most likely to comply with conditions of probation. Its success is based largely on partnerships within the court and the community. The work of the compliance docket team increases supervision and accountability on all levels.

The compliance docket is comprised of offenders on probation with a history of domestic violence or for a particularly violent charge. They begin their probation with the completion of a standardized risk assessment tool to determine what the offender needs to be successful on probation and, as a result, in the community. All offenders on the compliance docket receive comprehensive batterer’s intervention evaluations to insure that they receive the appropriate amount of batterer’s intervention classes, ranging from 26 to 58 weekly classes, prior to successful completion of the program. Additional needs that are addressed on the compliance docket include mental health, substance abuse, parenting, and general life skills.

The unique population of compliance docket participants includes many who have been or currently are victims of violence themselves. As such, the compliance docket strives to be trauma informed. In addition to teaching life skills the compliance docket is beginning a partnership with Gary Dumas of G.A. Dumas Company to give participants the opportunity to work on their personal emotional fitness and to allow them to obtain their GED.

Compliance docket participants report to the Offender Accountability Officer Megan Reed and are also required to make regular court appearances where I can monitor their progress on probation. The compliance docket begins every Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. with a basic life skills class. The docket is called at 2:30 p.m. Each individual has the opportunity to speak with me, their judge, to discuss how they are progressing on their probation. Failure to comply with probation conditions results in a sanction. Sanctions are uniform and predetermined by a sanctioning grid that is reviewed with offenders in advance. Success on probation allows me to offer encouragement. Reporting for participants is staggered. The better offenders do on probation, the less they are required to appear in court.

The designated compliance docket prosecutor, Abby Pennell, also meets on a weekly basis with me and Megan Reed to staff the compliance docket participants and discuss their progress. The staffing includes weekly progress reports from Synergy Services, which works with offenders to provide batterers intervention classes. Their four-part comprehensive evaluation process also makes the compliance docket team more aware of issues that may not have been addressed by the risk assessment tool. Compliance docket participants receive the batterers intervention evaluation at no cost and the recommended number of classes at the reduced rate of $5 per class.

As a team that has worked hard to implement best practices and keep victims safe, the Kansas City municipal domestic violence court is honored to be named as a mentor court. The court will utilize the funding and training that comes with this designation to continue to serve the city of Kansas City to reduce domestic violence in our community.

This story was originally published October 29, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "How our ‘mentor court’ strives against violence."