The Sarasota Community Care Court is a problem solving specialty court which first began January 8, 2019. This court is dedicated to serving homeless individuals of Sarasota County. Community Care Court seeks to engage chronic and long-term homeless individuals and provide them with services and opportunities to change and improve their life-style. This court employs multidisciplinary strategies that include coordination among the criminal justice system, health and social services, education systems, and the community.
The Twelfth Judicial Circuit, the City of Sarasota, the Office of the State Attorney, the Office of the Public Defender, the Clerk of the Sarasota County Court, the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness have joined with others to assist homeless individuals connect with opportunities to reach self-sufficiency and end their recidivism through engagement in social services and therapeutic treatment opportunities in our community.
Community Care Court is voluntary, allowing participants to choose to enter as an alternative to dealing with pending non-violent city criminal ordinances and qualified misdemeanor offenses. We have monthly court dockets monitoring the progress of each participant and making the program available to those who would like to change and improve their lifestyle. The participants are working with the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) and the social service providers in between the monthly court sessions. Those persons who successfully complete the court program, will have their charges dismissed or reduced.
For more information on Community Care Court, please read: