Chief Superior Court Judge Brenda S. Weaver, Secretary-Treasurer of the Council of Superior Court Judges

Superior Court Judge Brenda S. Weaver, Appalachian Judicial Circuit, Jasper, will become Secretary-Treasurer of the Council of Superior Court Judges on May 1, 2013. Her term of office and those of Council President Judge Louisa Abbot, Eastern Judicial Circuit, Savannah, and President-Elect Judge Mary Staley, Cobb Judicial Circuit, Marietta, run from May 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014.

Judge Weaver serves as Chief Superior Court Judge of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit and as Administrative Judge for the Ninth District. She served as an Associate Juvenile Court Judge for the Appalachian Judicial Circuit from 1991 until her appointment as Chief Juvenile Court Judge in April 1995. She served as Chief Juvenile Court Judge until her appointment to the Superior Court in 1996.

Judge Weaver currently serves as the Presiding Judge in the Appalachian Judicial Circuit Felony Drug Court and also previously served as the Presiding Judge in Mental Health Court. Plans are being made to establish a Veteran’s Drug Court in her circuit. Currently, her circuit is partnering with Highland Rivers in operating a Jail Diversion Trauma Recovery Program which gives priority to serving veterans.

Judge Weaver currently serves as Chairperson of the Council of Superior Court Judges’ Accountability and Treatment Courts Committee, a member of the Uniform Rules Committee and the Pattern Charge Committee. She was appointed by the Chief Justice to serve on the Clerks’ Authority Board of Directors and as Chairperson of the Judicial Council’s Accountability and Treatment Courts Committee.

Recently, Judge Weaver was appointed by the Supreme Court to serve as a member of the Judicial Qualifications Commission. She also serves as a member of the State Bar of Georgia’s Next Generation Courts Commission and previously served as a member of the Georgia Commission on Family Violence for over ten years.

Judge Weaver is married to George and together they have five children and four grandchildren.

The Council of Superior Court Judges is composed of the state’s 207 superior court judges and over 70 senior (retired) superior court judges. It was established by the state legislature in 1985 to further the improvement of the superior courts and the administration of justice in Georgia. The Council seeks to identify and propose solutions to problems common to all judges and has adopted strategic planning to identify and pursue operational goals. Duties of the Council include state superior court judges’ budget development and administration; initiating and responding to legislative issues involving the Superior Court; adoption of uniform court rules; preparation of bench publications, including jury charge instructions and benchbooks; and certification of continuing judicial education.

The newly elected officers, immediate past-president, and administrative judges representing each of the ten judicial administrative districts in Georgia comprise the Council of Superior Court Judges’ executive committee, which is authorized to manage the projects and policies of the council. They also serve on the Judicial Council of Georgia with representatives of the other courts in the state setting policy for the judiciary. The Council’s central office is located in Atlanta.

Local Accountability Courts lead the way in national criminal justice reform

Drug Courts are at the forefront of criminal justice reform efforts being pursued by governors seeking a solution to overburdened budgets, overcrowded prisons, and families torn apart by drug addiction and crime. Governors from Georgia, New Jersey, Tennessee and Virginia have made Drug Courts a priority in 2012. NADCP has learned that several more states will launch criminal justice reform initiatives in the coming weeks, including proposals to increase Drug Courts in Michigan and Texas.

Georgia

On January 10, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal devoted a substantial portion of his State of the State address to announcing his plan to expand Drug Courts throughout the state:

I am also recommending $10 million in next year’s budget for the creation of new Accountability Courts – Drug, DUI, Mental Health and Veteran Courts – all of which have proven to be both cheaper and more effective than traditional courts for those lower risk offenders falling under their jurisdiction. In fact, drug courts around this nation have proven to reduce recidivism by as much as 35%.

Governor Deal then told the story of Sarah, a young graduate of a Georgia Drug Court who attended the speech as the Governors guest. “Her story is not the exception,” he said. “While these reforms require an initial investment, they will increase public safety, and ultimately save money by creating a more effective corrections system that rehabilitates people, closing the revolving door.”

New Jersey

On January 17, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced in his State of the State address a commitment to expand Drug Courts throughout the state by allowing judges to sentence individuals to the program rather than send them to prison:

At the same time, let us reclaim the lives of those drug offenders who have not committed a violent crime… Experience has shown that treating non-violent drug offenders is two-thirds less expensive than housing them in prison. And more importantly – as long as they have not violently victimized society – everyone deserves a second chance, because no life is disposable.

Tennessee

On January 5, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam outlined a plan to lower the state’s violent crime rate by increasing punishment for violent criminals and diverting drug addicted offenders into Drug Court. The plan calls for the following action items:

Expand access to drug treatment courts across Tennessee, with emphasis on treating serious meth and prescription drug addictions; focus more of state drug treatment court funding for courts serving defendants who would otherwise be incarcerated at the state’s expense; establish regional residential drug treatment court facilities; establish a uniform, effective, and comprehensive evaluation process on the performance of drug treatment courts.

Virginia

A week after the Tennessee announcement, Governor Bob McDonnell delivered remarks to the Virginia’s General Assembly, telling them:

In this year’s budget I have provided localities with a mechanism for obtaining authorization for new Drug Courts, at their expense, as long as they meet certain requirements and provide data necessary to evaluate their success.

The Leadership Team from the Appalachian Judicial Circuit in Tulsa, Oklahoma for Veterans Court Training

” . . .To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan. . .”

     President Abraham Lincoln       

In 1865, President Lincoln stood on the East Portico of the Capitol to take the executive oath for his second term as President of the United States. As he stood to deliver his second inaugural address, he faced a country that had been bruised and battered by civil war. As President Lincoln gave his address, the end of the war was only weeks away. He made a promise that has become one of the defining characteristics of our great nation – “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan…” Today, this is where Veterans Treatment Courts begin their work.

From the volunteer militias that first served in the Continental Army to the volunteer military currently deployed to our engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States has long been safeguarded by brave men and women ready to defend our freedom at home and abroad. Our Armed Forces have changed significantly over the last two hundred years, but what remains consistent among all branches is the sense of honor, duty, leadership, commitment and respect instilled in those who choose to serve. This is evident in the millions of veterans who have returned home to their communities as productive citizens, strengthened by their military experience. But we are all keenly aware that some veterans struggle upon returning home. The Vietnam era taught us much about the difficulties veterans can encounter when they are not welcomed home and properly cared for.

A Leadership Team from the Appalachian Judicial Circuit led by Chief Superior Court Judge Brenda Weaver attended a team training seminar and visited the Veterans Treatment Court in Tulsa, Oklahoma the week of October 3rd, 2011. Judge Weaver along with representatives from the District Attorney’s Office, Public Defenders’ Office, State and County Probation, local Mental Health and Specialty Court Administration learned how Veterans Treatment Courts operate and how one could be established in Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin County using a federal grant. The training was sponsored by and paid for by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals in cooperation with the United States Department of Justice.

Like Drug Courts and Mental Health Courts, Veterans Treatment Courts are judicially supervised court dockets that strike the proper balance between the need to treat a veteran suffering from a substance abuse and/or mental health disorder and the need to protect community safety; between the need for effective treatment and the need to hold people accountable for their actions; between hope and redemption on the one hand and productive citizenship on the other. Building upon the infrastructure that exists within Drug Courts, Veterans Treatment Courts combine rigorous treatment and accountability for veterans facing incarceration. Veterans Treatment Courts are hybrid Drug Courts and Mental Health Courts. They promote sobriety, recovery and stability through a coordinated response that involves collaboration with the traditional partners found in Drug Courts and Mental Health Courts. But the bonds of military service run deep. Veterans have many shared experiences not common among civilians. Research suggests that traditional community services may not be adequately suited to meet the distinct needs of a veteran. Therefore, Veterans Treatment Courts involve the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health Care networks, the Veterans Benefits Administration, State Departments of Veterans Affairs, volunteer veteran mentors and veterans and veterans family support organizations.