From 1998 until 2009, our Drug Court focused on persons charged with their first felony offense. However, in 2009, the State cut funding, essentially eliminating our first offender felony drug court. In response, and in conjunction with Adult Probation and Parole, we established the STOP Program (Supervised Treatment On Probation), a program mimicking drug court for first-time felony drug offenders, but without any state funding. In 2010, after some organizational changes at Adult Probation and Parole, we made substantial changes to the STOP Program and created a new program called SAILR (Substance Abuse Intervention Low Risk). Similar to the STOP Program, SAILR is intended for first-time felony drug offenders.
In short, if a person charged with a felony drug crime meets the eligibility requirements described below, he will enter a guilty plea that the court will hold in abeyance for one to two years. If the person completes the SAILR program requirements successfully, we will dismiss their charges. If the person does not complete the SAILR program requirements successfully, the court will enter their charges as convictions and issue a sentence.
Eligibility Requirements:
- Offender lives in Utah County.
- Offender is employable and is a U.S. citizen.
- Offender‘s current felony charges are for drug crimes and at least one charge is a felony and any other felony charges are closely related to the drug charge.
- All other non-drug or property charges must be misdemeanors (e.g., DUI, false information, enhanceable charges and charges convictions for which might enhance later crimes, and assault) and must be pled to and sentenced prior to entry of plea.
- Eligible drug crimes are those where the offender is charged with possession or use of a controlled substance, prescription fraud, and paraphernalia charges, but does NOT include distribution related charges.
- Offender has not been convicted of or have pending any of the following: any felony offense (other than the instant case), three or more misdemeanors, non-traffic cases, any sex offense, any assault on a peace officer, any charge class A misdemeanor or higher involving a firearm, explosives, or arson.
- The Utah County Major Crimes Task Force does not object to the offender‘s entry into SAILR.
For all SAILR participants, AP&P will provide supervision and will require the offender to comply with whatever assessments and substance abuse treatment programs it deems necessary for the offender to complete SAILR successfully and stay off drugs.