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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Ind. Courts - "Vanderburgh County Drug Court becomes model to follow"

Adding to these two recent entries about Vanderburgh County's treatment courts, overseen by Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman, from Oct. 14th and Oct. 18th, this story today by Mark Wilson in the Evansville Courier & Press is headed: "Vanderburgh County Drug Court becomes model to follow: Program eyed in northern Indiana." The story begins:

Several programs stood out as role models as judicial officials in St. Joseph County began looking at ways to expand the work of its Drug Court to help a wider range of people re-enter society after prison.

High on that list are Vanderburgh County's treatment courts, overseen by Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman, especially its re-entry court program, said St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Roland Chamblee.

The northern Indiana county, home to the city of South Bend, already had long-running drug court of its own.

"Re-entry seemed like the next step to me," Chamblee said. "Wayne (Trockman) is highly regarded in both drug court and re-entry court venues."

Also today, Carrie Ritchie of the Indianapolis Star has a lengthy story headed "Hamilton County's new drug court targets addiction: Offenders must plead guilty and pay for costs, tests, treatment." It begins:
Hamilton County is starting a program that it hopes will rehabilitate drug addicts and prevent them from constantly getting into trouble with the law.

This month, the county launched a drug court program, which will allow addicts who are convicted of crimes to seek help either instead of or in addition to going through traditional punishment, such as serving a jail sentence.

"Jails just don't work for a lot of people," said Hamilton Superior Court Judge Gail Bardach, who would preside over the drug court docket. "They don't work for people who have multiple quality-of-life issues, and that's what drug addicts have."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 28, 2010 09:57 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts