Pubdate: Thu, 28 Sep 2000
Source: Gary Post-Tribune, The (IN)
Copyright: 2000 Post-Tribune Publishing
Contact:  1065 Broadway, Gary IN 46402-2998
Fax: (219) 881-3234
Website: http://www.post-trib.com/
Authors:  Bernard Carter and John Buncich
Note: Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter and Sheriff John Buncich

LAKE COUNTY JUDGES MUST STOP HINDERING ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM

Our opinion: State-Mandated Fees Should Be Paid Out of Bonds Posted By 
Defendants.  

There is something very wrong when a program designed to curtail drug 
abuse is being hamstrung by the judiciary.  

No, this isn't the usual wail about judges putting drug pushers and 
addicts back on the streets with only a slap on the wrist - an 
accusation most often made by hard-liners who don't know the whole 
story.  

This is about judges refusing to do their part in a justice system 
partnership dedicated to a three-pronged approach to ridding Lake 
County of the drug culture - education and prevention, treatment and 
intervention and law enforcement.  

Effective action in all three areas is needed to get the job done. 
That's where the Partnership for a Drug Free Lake County, coordinated 
by Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter and Sheriff John Buncich, 
comes in. But it lacks the money to do a good job.  

The state has tried to help. It passed a law requiring judges to assess 
a fee of from $200 to $1,000 on everyone convicted of a narcotics 
charge and $200 on anyone convicted of drunken driving. The drug 
partnership gets 75 percent of the money for operating costs, and the 
state gets the remaining 25 percent for drug-related causes.  

Along with short-changing the public good, the judges are snubbing the 
law. Buncich and Indiana Attorney General Karen Freeman-Wilson say most 
judges in Lake County simply aren't assessing the fee.  

Considering that Marion County collects $700,000 annually from the fees 
and Lake County only manages about $100,000, there is a definite 
discrepancy. Freeman-Wilson, a former Gary city judge, admits she 
didn't impose the fee during her first two years on the bench because 
she didn't know about it.  

Judges don't have that excuse now. Partnership representatives met with 
judges three years ago, hoping for willing partners, but instead got "a 
lukewarm to cold reception," according to Buncich.  

Why would judges not want to try a joint effort to do something that 
could reduce their heavy caseload and make life better for a lot of 
people, including the law-abiding public? Good question.  

Buncich and Freeman-Wilson have their suspicions and it doesn't have to 
do with anything honorable.  

The easiest way to make sure the fee is paid is for judges to order it 
to come out of the bond the defendant posts. But lawyers often depend 
on bond money for legal fees. It looks like too many judges don't want 
to cut into what their compatriots get.  

Freeman-Wilson advocates the fee also being accessed when drug- and 
alcohol-related charges are plea bargained. Of course, they should. 
Plea bargains require an admission of guilt. The state hasn't made that 
law yet, but it may have to. Prosecutors already should be making that 
a requirement of a plea agreement.  

If Lake County wants to kick its reputation, both as a drug haven and a 
hotbed for political cronyism, its officials must get serious about 
cleaning up the place.  
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