Community Court is San Diego’s new answer to handling lowlevel misdemeanor offenses. It provides offenders with an opportunity to pay their debt back to the community through targeted work service and other conditions, instead of the traditional criminal sanctions and subsequent conviction.

Crimes such as disturbing the peace, public intoxication, illegal lodging, trespass, petty theft, vandalism under $950 and a wide range of other low-level misdemeanor offenses are eligible for Community Court.

The Community Court process is fairly simple. For those eligible, an offer to divert the case to Community Court will be made at arraignment. If accepted, the Court will set a new court date about 90 days later and specific conditions will be outlined as a condition of participating in Community Court that the defendant would be required to fulfill during that time.

If the offender successfully completes all conditions within the time allotted, the offender will have earned a dismissal of the case.

For more information on San Diego Community Court, contact us.