Lancaster Common Pleas Court to Receive State’s First Drug Court Accreditation

Ceremony Celebrating the PA Supreme Court’s Accreditation of Lancaster County Drug Court

Lancaster, PA, February 6, 2012— On behalf of the entire Drug Court team, Judge David L. Ashworth said today that Lancaster County’s Adult Drug Program will be the first such program accredited by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court during a ceremony on Wednesday, February 8 at 1 pm in Courtroom A of the Historic Courthouse at 50 North Duke St.

Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery will be the keynote speaker at a ceremony marking this memorable event

The ceremony is open to the public and all are welcome. Media coverage is invited.

“The goals of this accreditation program are two-fold,” Justice McCaffery said. “First, it gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to recognize programs in Pennsylvania that are models for other districts to follow, especially districts that may be in the planning stage of developing a drug court.  Second, the assessment component of this process measures how  these programs compare to best practices in the field, providing a quality assurance mechanism for the statewide administration of the Problem Solving Court Program.”

“The Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas Adult Drug Court is the first Problem Solving Court in the Commonwealth to earn the distinction of being accredited by our Supreme Court,” said Judge Ashworth.  “This achievement is the result of many years of hard work by the dedicated members of our Drug Court Team with the support of the Board of Judges, the County Commissioners, the District Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, Adult Probation and Parole Services and many others.”

On August 26, 2009, with the support of Justice McCaffery, who is the liaison Justice to the Problem Solving Courts Program in Pennsylvania, a committee was established to develop an accreditation program for Problem Solving Courts for consideration by the Supreme Court. The Adult Drug and DUI Court Accreditation Program was established by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in July of 2011.