CEO Message

By Stephen K. Talpins, NPAMC CEO and Chairman of the Board

Several years ago, while serving as the Prosecutor Fellow for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators, I was asked to travel around the country speaking on the virtues of DWI Courts.

DWI Courts are post-adjudication programs designed to address offenders’ alcohol and drug problems. They employ an inter-disciplinary approach, are non-adversarial, and prioritize rehabilitation over punishment. I trusted the program managers, but was surprised by the request. After 11 years as a prosecutor, I had seen many treatment programs fail miserably. I believed incarceration was not just the best way to protect the public − but the only way. The program managers asked me to research the courts and told me if − after exercising my due diligence − I still believed the courts were ineffectual, we could readdress the issue.

I spent hundreds of hours on the internet and speaking with practitioners. I read every article, study, and evaluation conducted on the programs. What I learned shocked me. The least effective courts had no impact on recidivism. Zero. None. Recidivism didn’t go down, but it didn’t go up either. And the programs saved the respective counties significant sums of money and jail space. The better-run courts − the ones that incorporated treatment and intensive monitoring − dramatically reduced recidivism and still saved significant money and jail space. I couldn’t believe it.

I recognized then what treatment professionals, ably led by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), had been saying for years: properly administered programs can simultaneously reduce recidivism, better protect the public, rehabilitate offenders, reduce jail overcrowding, and save tax dollars. I knew that the legal and medical approaches to the problem were different, but realized they weren’t mutually exclusive. I decided to refocus my energies on helping the NADCP and others design programs to better manage and assist all offenders, not just DWI offenders.

Since my watershed moment, I’ve had the honor of working with some of the nation’s leading experts in the area. I’ve worked with prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys, probation officers, corrections personnel, treatment professionals, government officials, victims groups, legislators, monitoring and pharmaceutical companies and members of the alcohol industry. I observed that we agree on the vast majority of issues and potential solutions. Unfortunately, we waste so much time arguing on the small percentage of things we disagree on that we’ve failed to create any real change.

In Spring 2008, several colleagues and I decided to created an inclusive non-partisan, public-private partnership to identify and implement evidence-based solutions and best practices for handling offenders with alcohol misuse issues. Rather than focusing on areas of disagreement, we decided to focus on areas of consensus. This allows us to quickly and efficiently identify and implement strategies that will address the offenders’ alcohol issues, better protect the public, and save tax dollars and resources.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not. I invite you to explore our website and participate in our efforts. Together, we can revolutionize the way the justice system handles offenders.