JUDGE TO ATTEND DRUG COURT SEMINAR

TOWANDA - Bradford County President Judge Jeffrey Smith will be attending a
seminar on Wednesday to obtain information about treatment courts and how
they operate.

According to a pamphlet provided by the judge, "Treatment Court Symposium"
will be held in Harrisburg, and is being sponsored by the Pennsylvania
Commission on Crime and Delinquency; the Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation; Pennsylvania Department of Health, Bureau of Drug and
Alcohol Programs; and Pennsylvania DUI Association.

The purpose of the seminar, the information said, is to provide those
involved in the criminal justice system with an idea of how treatment
courts -- which includes DUI and drug courts -- work. Smith explained that
treatment court has not been tried here before, although other counties in
Pennsylvania -- such as Lycoming County -- have incorporated it. Treatment
court, Smith said, involves a defendant having more frequent contact with
the judge, and much more personalized attention to his or her case. "It's a
system that's being used more frequently throughout the country and the
commonwealth," Smith said when asked why the matter is being considered.
"We obviously have an acute methamphetamine problem.

Traditional methodology hasn't worked well for meth addicts, so we're
looking to see if there's a better way to do things. We want to explore
that." Smith confirmed that treatment court is an alternative to
incarceration, which has seen a lot of discussion lately as a means of
alleviating overcrowding at the Bradford County prison. "I recently stated
(in a previous article) that nothing works as well as incarceration," Smith
said. "I was criticized for that statement, but I was correct because
nothing works as well as incarceration for deterring potential offenders
and for motivating convicted offenders to get the treatment they need. "For
the 25 years that I've been here as a prosecutor and a judge, there has
never been a simple 'lock them up and throw away the key attitude,'" Smith
said. "Incarceration has always been linked with the opportunity for treatment."