Commissioners, court agree to use fund for drug offenders
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Under a memorandum of understanding the Washington County commissioners expect to approve today, more services through a nonviolent drug offenders’ diversion program will be available to those charged with crimes.
Through the program, the county commissioners, President Judge Katherine B. Emery and Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission aim to reduce the number of cases on the court’s docket.
The memorandum calls for Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission to receive $75,000 this year from a fund from court fees imposed on defendants. There is $382,875 in a court-controlled account that was accumulating for at least the past 10 years.
The agency is to provide a case manager to coordinate the program; assessments, evaluations and screenings; treatment referrals and social services along with regular and random drug testing.
The agency is also to provide progress reports to district judges, the district attorney’s office and defense attorneys, and quarterly program and fiscal reports to Washington County court administrator and Criminal Justice Advisory Board.
The diversionary program is being created with money that the court will be releasing for the first time. Emery is entering into her fourth month as president judge, succeeding Debbie O’Dell Seneca, who retired in January.
“It’s not clear if we have the authority, or if they have the authority, so we agreed to work together,” county solicitor Lynn DeHaven told the commissioners about the memorandum that he, Emery, Court Admistrator Patrick Grimm and Cheryl Andrews, executive director of the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission, signed.
The state Legislature amended a law in 2002 to establish the Substance Abuse Education and Demand Reduction Fund. Half the money collected was to remain in the county to be used for substance abuse treatment or prevention programs and the remainder was to go to the state treasury to be administered by Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
Money going into the fund comes from a $100 fee imposed and collected from those who are convicted, adjudicated delinquent, accepted into Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program or plead guilty or no contest for violating the drug act or drunken driving.
The amount doubles if the defendant has a blood-alcohol content or 0.15 percent or greater within two hours after arrest.