Judge Butts Recognized for Drug Court

From the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, October 2005:

County judge lauded for work treating drug offenders

Butts gets judicial achievement award in courtroom ceremony

By KATIE PRINCE, Sun-Gazette Staff

There was barely standing room in county Judge Nancy L. Butts’ courtroom by 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Probation officers and counselors sat alongside former drug addicts and a young child was hushed by his mother as everyone waited for the proceeding to begin.

Breaking a custom of reticence when it comes to self congratulation, court officials Wednesday publicly honored Butts for her “extraordinarily dedicated work” with the county’s Drug Court, which began as an experiment in 1998.

President Judge Kenneth D. Brown headed the effort to praise Butts and presented her with an Outstanding Judicial Achievement Award.

“Drug Court changed my life,” said a program graduate who asked not to be identified. “It’s hard to sum that up in a couple of minutes.”

The year-long program keeps offenders whose crimes are rooted in drug abuse out of jail and mandates they attend counseling and meetings. Scrutiny and supervision are intense in the beginning, tapering off before graduation, and rewards and sanctions are used to encourage success in both treatment and life.

The former graduate admitted that sanctions, not rewards encouraged him to abide by the conditions of the program.

“For me, it wasn’t the rewards;” he said. “I came in here once a week and I didn’t know if I was going to jail ... I kept on the path long enough to make a decision for myself.”

Probation officer Jim Schriner who has worked with Butts since the program began, said to the crowd of at least 50 that the program is one of the best things going in the criminal justice system.

When Drug Court came to the county, it had been tested in a few other court systems.  In the mid 1900s, drug court was conceived to deal with addiction and the high costs of incarcerating offenders.

Since its inception here, 289 offenders have gone through the program and 139 have graduated. Three of them earned their diplomas Wednesday.

Drug Court solves the community’s problems and saves tax dollars, Schriner said.

“Few step forward and have the courage to do anything about” the drug problem, he said thanking Butts for her leadership and the programs success.

Drug Court avoids the constant warehousing” of drug-addicted offenders and forces people to address changes,” he said.

Shea Madden, executive director of West Branch Drug and Alcohol Abuse Commission, has worked closely with Butts since he program began. She thanked Butts for her leadership and friendship and said her recognition was “well-deserved and a bit overdue.”

Smiling and composed as Brown presented her with a plaque, Butts voice began to crack when she spoke about her career goals as a college student and how her expectations have changed and remained the same.

When she was a student and did not yet know what she would do for a living, Butts said, she bought a poster with the William James quote, “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”

“This job has taken me far beyond what I thought it would in fulfilling that goal,” she said tearfully.

After the ceremony, Butts forged into the regular session of Drug Court, calling up participants one by one and reviewing their progress for the week.

Occasionally, a participant who witnessed the ceremony would congratulate the judge. She smiled graciously, muttering under her breath, “This isn’t about me.”

Choices in life put Butts on the bench and puts some of those who face her behind bars

A man in shackles stood before Judge Nancy L. Butts, head hanging in anticipation of more imprisonment, while she explained that life is a series of choices.

It is a regular scene in this courtroom, but the judge spoke to the man as if he were the first one to hear this lecture. Speaking personally and forthrightly to defendants is standard practice for Butts, and she often talks about choices.

Butts herself has lived a deliberative life, and since childhood has made choices that have steered her in the direction she wanted to go.

In a recent interview with the Sun-Gazette, the judge discussed how she came to be a county jurist and the events that shaped who she is.

Butts, in her 10th year on the bench, remembers that she wanted to be a sportscaster when she was a little girl growing up in Phi1adelphia.

 “I was told women don’t do that,” she said, adding that Title IX (federal mandating sexual equality in school athletics) didn’t pass until she was a teenager. Even after her hope of becoming a sportscaster died, Butts’ aspirations did not include the legal profession.

 In high school, she said, she wanted to go into theater or medicine, but one engineering math class later, she realized she would never be a doctor. But she loved school, she said, and after she took a few her legal courses, found her “passion.”

After law school, Butts accepted a job in the Public Defender’s Office here. She then moved to the District Attorney’s Office and became the county’s first judge in 1995.

“It’s neat to say I’m the first,” she said. “I didn’t know what a big deal it was.”

Butts was modest when it came to what she, as a woman, brings to the, county bench.

“It’s not better or worse just different — good different.”

There are ample opportunities for women in the law field, she said, but “I don’t know women are necessarily convinced to advance” their careers.

On the other hand, Butts said she wishes there wasn’t a “label.”

“Everybody’s got a mother. I’m not your mother or your big sister” she said of her dealings in the criminal justice system. “I’m just someone who sees the path you’re headed on, and I’m morally compelled to tell you this.”

Hesitant to answer questions about her judicial method in terms of gender, Butts acknowledged, “Some days are more gut, some days are more head.” Good judges have to use both, she said.

She said she doesn’t remember seeing my other judge who speaks to criminals like she does.

“I try to be empathetic,” she said. “I try not to kick someone when they’re down. Maybe I’m the first one to tell them, ‘It will be OK.’”

Defendants, on the other hand, can be quick to approach her with a more casual and overly familiar attitude.

“Occasionally people say, ‘Hi, Nancy’ and I say, ‘Excuse me, that’s Judge Butts.’ It’s unacceptable: Hey Nance, Miss Nancy, that blankety-blank. Some people try to in intimidate me, but they find out quickly that doesn’t work.”

When asked what has had the most impact over her career, Butts answered with out hesitation:

“Becoming a mom. I’m more aggressive about trying new things and finding new solutions to old problems.”

Though single, she adopted a baby boy about three years ago.

Like motherhood, she said, she finds that being a judge is an “emotional commitment” — not only to the justice system but to the community.

“I look at the responsibility and authority I have and it’s scary,” she said. “I’m a role model and I take that very seriously.”