ADULT PROGRAMS - STRATFORD

The Direct Accountability Program s is an alternative to prosecution for eligible individuals charged with minor criminal offences. The program operates in co-operation with the local County Crown’s Office. Males and females eighteen years of age and over who have been charged with a minor criminal offence(s) and would otherwise have to go through the court process are referred to the Program. Clients referred to the Program are assessed as to their risk and to the offence which they have been referred. Participants must be willing to assume responsibility for their actions and be prepared to make amends through the completion of an assigned sanction. Clients can be directed to complete community service, pay restitution, repair damage to property, make a charitable donation or be referred to a program (such as Drug & Alcohol Awareness) to address criminogenic factors. Clients who complete the program avoid a conviction for the offence(s). Clients who fail to complete the program are referred back to the Crown for prosecution. Courts covered: St. Thomas Stratford, Listowel, Wingham, Goderich, Exeter, and Chatham.

The Alcohol and Drug Awareness Program is a six hour educational/informational program offered in a small group or individual format as part of Direct Accountability. Participants learn about the effects of alcohol and various types of drugs, assess their own usage, explore how their problematic thinking, feeling and behaviour has led to their involvement with the criminal justice system, and discuss strategies for change.

This is a two-day 3 hour or one-day 6 hour education/informational program that targets persons charged with a criminal offence where ager management and/or substance use appear to have been a contributing factor to the offending behaviour

The Alternative Measures Program (AMP) is a program that is offered to persons involved in minor offences that either do not have a criminal record or, on the program’s discretion, to those who have less than two offences on their record (generally the offences on your record must be old e.g. not recent). The intention of AMP is to allow persons involved in minor offences who have little experience with the criminal justice system, a chance avoid a criminal record. If you are accepted into the program, upon completion, the Crown will withdraw the charges against you (i.e. you will not have a criminal record). Although you will not have a criminal conviction and thus have no record, the fact that you participated in the program will show on CPIC (a police database); this is essentially to ensure that a person does not get AMP more than once.