Recovery Courts are an intensive, judicially supervised court intervention that targets individuals involved in the criminal and juvenile court systems with a substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorder. This includes high-risk and high-need adult offenders, juveniles adjudicated in delinquency court, veterans, and parents involved in the abuse/neglect/dependency cases. A recovery court is comprised of a team of court and community professionals who closely manage cases so participants can become healthy, law-abiding, and productive family and community members.

Adult recovery courts are an intermediate punishment that targets repeat offenders who have a substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorder.

To be eligible to participate in the adult treatment court component of any local program, an individual must:

1. Be either:
   • Diagnosed as chemically dependent under the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory III, or
   • Diagnosed as borderline chemically dependent under the Inventory and present documented collateral indicia of chemical dependency;
2. Be assessed for legal eligibility (usually H and I felonies on the Structured Sentencing Grid);
3. Be eligible for an intermediate punishment for all pending offenses; and
4. Meet all other reasonable eligibility requirements established by the local program.

Source: Recovery Courts | North Carolina Judicial Branch

From April through December 2025, 67% of individuals screened for adult recovery court were accepted, and 52% of those accepted went on to enroll in the program.

Among individuals who self-reported a mental health diagnosis, 37% were accepted into adult recovery court, and 33% ultimately enrolled.

During this same period, 30 individuals were referred to adult recovery court. Of those referrals, 27 individuals were screened, 18 were accepted, and 14 were formally enrolled in the program.