VALDOSTA – The Lowndes County DUI Court recently attended the Annual Council of Accountability Court Conference in Athens.

The conference was titled “Georgia’s Accountability Courts: Growing in the Right Direction,” county officials said. 

At the conference, team members attended both plenary sessions and breakout group sessions covering many current topics, as well as sessions specific to certain types of courts and particular processional disciplines. 

Gov. Nathan Deal spoke at the event and announced Georgia now has an accountability court operating in every judicial circuit with a total of 156 accountability courts in the state, county officials said. 

The state goal is to continue to expand the number of participants in each court and to increase the number of accountability courts in Georgia.

The Lowndes County DUI Court has been in operation since January 2017 and is a voluntary, post-conviction, treatment-based program for people who have been convicted multiple times for driving while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. 

The Lowndes County DUI Court program offers enhanced supervision, counseling and treatment to help participants function in the community while still holding the participant accountable, county officials said. 

The goal of DUI Court is to protect public safety by strictly adhering to the highly successful Georgia DUI court model established by Georgia law and the Council of Accountability Court Judges of Georgia which focuses on participant accountability and long-term treatment. 

DUI courts provide more comprehensive and closer supervision than traditional court probationary sentences. 

More information: Contact Court Coordinator Stacey Bass, (229) 671-2895.