MANHATTAN: DRUG-TREATMENT CHIEF NAMED

A director has been chosen for the New York State courts' program to place
nonviolent drug-addicted offenders in treatment instead of jail. Judge
Joseph J. Traficanti Jr. was named yesterday to oversee drug screening and
treatment for offenders in criminal and family courts. Last June, when
Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye announced the program, she said it should keep
10,000 people a year out of the prison population, now about 95,000. Judge
Traficanti will also direct an organization of new, specialized courts for
repeat misdemeanor offenders. He will remain a deputy chief administrative
judge, responsible for state and local courts outside New York City.