Cole recently received a Certificate of Completion from Judge DiVine of Orange County’s Community Resource Court (also here) in Chapel Hill. The court—specifically advocated by NAMI—serves the “needs of citizens with mental illness in the local court system,” and has been serving about 100 individuals a year in a “collaborative effort… to commit local court personnel, treatment providers and law enforcement in a coordinated response to the mentally ill offender in an effort to address the needs of citizens who continued to fall through the cracks of our respective judicial and mental health service systems.” The court recognized that Cole’s crime was linked to his illness. He made a bad decision but he followed the goals and requirements of the Community Resource Court and his charges were dropped, freeing up his record for employment and a fresh start.
For a little more info on the CRC and Caramore’s relationship to it… go here, hit button “five.”
