CHIEF JUDGE: PROGRAM SURPASSED EXPECTATIONS

The head of New York's court system didn't know much about drug treatment
courts six years ago when Rochester City Court Judge John Schwartz launched
a pilot project in his courtroom.

Today, Chief Judge Judith Kaye is sold on the concept.

"Every judge's ideas are worth looking at, and Schwartz was convinced this
was a really good idea," Kaye said last week.

Like most people who hear about drug court, Kaye said she was skeptical it
would work, and feared many state residents would consider it "one more
fuzzy program that coddles criminals."

But after she attended several "graduations" for successful participants in
Rochester and elsewhere, Kaye said she's now convinced drug court is one of
the most effective tools the state has in its war against drugs and crime.

"I saw one woman who entered drug court in an orange jail jump suit, six
months pregnant and addicted to crack," Kaye said. "Fifteen months later,
she graduated with healthy twin boys and was on her way to college."

Not Easy On Defendants

Kaye says anyone who thinks the program is easy on defendants doesn't know
enough about drug court.

"There's nothing soft-hearted about drug court," she said. "Many defendants
could just opt to take six months in jail and be free of the system.
Instead, they commit to a year or more of intensive monitoring by a drug
court team. That's not the easy way out."

Kaye praised Schwartz for convincing her to back the program statewide, and
she credited Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Joseph J. Traficanti with
helping more than 140 communities throughout the state get their drug
courts started.

Schwartz said there was nothing mysterious about his decision to try a new
approach to dealing with drug-addicted offenders.

"Why did I start drug court? Because the other system was failing so
miserably," Schwartz said. "We had nothing to lose by trying something
new." Kaye said defendants and judges aren't the only ones benefiting from
drug court. Taxpayers are too.

"By the end of the year, more than 13,000 defendants will have been
referred to drug courts in New York state," she said. "Multiply that by the
$30,000 a year it would cost to keep them behind bars and you're talking
about real money."