General Court Intervention Program Services

The General Court Intervention Program (GCIP) seeks to divert up to 500 accused persons per year to community programs and support services while on bail in order to reduce reoffending.

The GCIP will address the needs of accused persons with case management and priority access to community programs and services.

The GCIP will target accused persons who would be:

• less likely to re-offend if successfully engaged with a program or service;
• unlikely or unable to pay a fine, although this may otherwise be an appropriate sentencing option;
• likely to breach a Community Based Order; and
• not otherwise be referred to an existing specialist court program, due to lack of eligibility or availability.
  
  Four points of need have been identified as being predominate in this cohort:
• Physical or mental health
• Drug and alcohol dependency and misuse issues
• Social and economic needs that contribute to the frequency or severity of their offending.
• Homelessness
  
  The GCIP will coordinate the service delivery and provide case management, including monitoring and support, for this cohort. The funding includes the procurement of community programs and services. These will be procured via a brokerage service based on participants’ assessed needs and coordinated by the GCIP. The duration of the program would be approximately 12 weeks and completion of the program may be taken into account at the time of sentencing.