Allegheny County to Launch New Court for Sex-Offender Cases

Pennsylvania’s first sex-offender court will launch in June in Allegheny County, state and local officials announced this afternoon.

The court is a test subject for the state and will handle the roughly 300 cases that the county sees each year, ensuring that they move through the judicial system more quickly. Allegheny County Common Pleas President Judge Donna Jo McDaniel will preside over the special court, which will give McDaniel and two other judges time to focus on the complex cases.

Pennsylvania will be the third state to set up a sex-offender court. The pilot program in Allegheny County could be expanded to other areas of the state in a year or so if it is deemed successful.

“Allegheny County courts have always been very proactive in creating specialized courts,” said Steve Schell, spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

In a news conference at the county courthouse on Wednesday following the announcement of the new court’s establishment, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said that he hopes that the special court will also be a launch pad for an initiative that he’s been pressing for–GPS tracking of violent offenders.

Zappala said that he believed that the county could economically and successfully use GPS to track the whereabouts of offenders around the clock, based on a draft of a report that he received from Red Five Security. Red Five, a consulting firm based in Alexandria, VA, with an office in Pittsburgh, was hired last year to run a series of tests using GPS tracking units affixed to bracelets and worn by 45 convicted and registered sex offenders.

The tests took place from mid-January to mid-March. The final report, which is expected in 30 days, will outline equipment specifications and lessons learned regarding monitoring procedures. County officials will use that report to decide whether to move forward on contracting with vendors and implementing the tracking devices.

A budget proposal is still in the works, Zappala said on Wednesday, but he added that he believed that money could be found for the program chiefly through re-prioritizing current spending.

His goal, he said, is to extend the use of GPS monitoring devices to all convicted violent offenders on parole or on probation, juvenile delinquents and possibly even those who fail to pay child support in Allegheny County.