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NEW FEDERAL AGENCY FOR D.C. DEBUTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The office tasked with providing pretrial services for the federal and local courts of the District of Columbia, as well as supervision for adult DC Code offenders on probation, parole and supervised release, was certified today as a full-fledged independent federal agency, effective immediately. The certification of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (CSOSA), created under the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, follows Attorney General Janet Reno's concurrence today.

CSOSA, which has been operating as a District of Columbia agency for the past three years under Trustee John "Jay" Carver, merged the functions of several agencies and the courts, has initiated a number of reforms, including: issuing timely warrants when parolees are charged with new crimes; instituting a system of graduated sanctions; and designing, planning and building a new Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Laboratory with an efficient tracking system to assure the acceptance of results by the court. The agency has also developed a chain of custody program for evidence and fashioned a neighborhood-based model of supervision.

The statutory Trusteeship ends with the Attorney General's concurrence on certification. Carver, who has served as Trustee since the agency's inception, was appointed by the Attorney General to serve in that position in September 1997.

"Jay Carver has helped design and lay the groundwork for an adult offender supervision program in the District that should be a model for other jurisdictions across the country," Attorney General Janet Reno said, thanking Carver for helping to guide the agency through to the August 5, 2000 deadline for certification.

Carver was appointed as Trustee after having served as Director of the DC Office of the Justice Management Institute. From 1971 until March 1997, Carver worked at the District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency, serving as its director in the later years of his employment. "Jay Carver has helped mold Court Services into a unique supervision and pretrial services organization that has already and can be expected to continue to improve the lives and safety of District residents," said Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. who directly oversees Departmental efforts to implement the Revitalization Act and related initiatives in the District of Columbia. "Due in no small part to Carver's dedication as Trustee, the Agency has begun to fulfill its mission of increasing public safety; reducing crime and recidivism by DC Code offenders."

CSOSA Associate Director for Community Justice Programs, Jasper Ormond, will head the Agency on an interim basis until the first Presidential appointee is selected and confirmed for the six-year term as CSOSA Director.

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