For immediate release: Oct. 16, 2009

BLOOMSBURG — Columbia-Montour Common Pleas Judge Thomas James will moderate a panel discussion exploring the cost of operating the courts and the financial effects of court actions. "The Cost of Justice Forum" will be held Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 2 p.m. in Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania's Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium.

Panelists include state Sen. John R. Gordner and Superior Court Judge Correale F. Stevens, along with Jeffrey R. Beard, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, and Deborah B. McDivitt, director of finance, Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. The panelists will discuss the cost of government in today's climate of escalating budgets and the increasing number of services demanded of courts and the justice system in both civil and criminal matters.

This event is sponsored by the Bloomsburg University departments of finance and legal studies, political science, and sociology, social work and criminal justice, as well as the Montour County League of Voters.

This forum is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Mark L. Usry, associate professor of finance and legal studies, at (570) 389-4796 or musry@bloomu.edu.

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students, offering comprehensive programs of study in the colleges of Education, Business, Liberal Arts and Science and Technology.