City of Hamilton Municipal Court Judge Dan Gattermeyer realizes some people appearing before his court need a little extra help.
These are people charged with low-level crimes like trespassing and breaking into vacant buildings.
Three years ago, he and community activists determined there was a need for a special court. They named it the "Empowerment Docket," and it focuses on those who are unhoused.
On the second Wednesday of every month, an average of 10 people charged with minor crimes show up to their court appearance and leave with housing vouchers, food, plans for drug or mental health treatment assistance and more.
"It's not normally a situation where we're trying to use the docket to impose sanctions or penalties," Gattermeyer says. "It's mainly to connect up the people that have those kind of charges with the services that are available to them."
Some of their situations are complicated. "We have some people who can't get any ID for themselves. They can't get services from agencies from the government," says Gattermeyer.
He explains a local pastor who is kind of an expert at helping people get their IDs comes to court to assist. This is just one example.
Other area judges are looking at creating a similar docket.
