National Criminal Justice Coalition to Meet, Evaluate Best Applications for Alcohol Monitoring Technologies

Partnership Working to Assess, Implement Improved Programs for Tackling Alcohol Misuse and Crime

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Representatives from more than 50 federal agencies, corporations, nonprofits and academic institutions are meeting today in Washington, D.C., as part of a multi-phase process aimed at mitigating what they call the crippling effects of alcohol misuse and crime in the United States.

The fourth meeting for the National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime (NPAMC) will focus on sanctioning and monitoring of offenders who misuse alcohol, including the effectiveness and potential impact of the latest technologies for monitoring offenders for alcohol consumption.. Sponsored and hosted by the Pew Charitable Trusts, a NPAMC Participating Organization, the meeting will feature presentations from several federal agencies, including the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Corrections and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Research groups and academia will also be represented, as well as a panel discussion with three of the country's leading alcohol monitoring technology manufacturers.

The Agenda for the one-day conference will include a review of the most recent research on the long-term impact of monitoring on recidivism and risk management, as well as the formation of NPAMC consensus statements that will reflect what NPAMC CEO Stephen K. Talpins calls the sense of the group relative to the issue of alcohol monitoring. "We simply can't afford to incarcerate our way out of this problem," says Talpins, a former national policy director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and a former DUI prosecutor for the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office. In 2000 the U.S. surpassed the $100 billion-dollar-a-day mark in spending to incarcerate individuals with serious addiction problems. Today, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 36 percent of the 5.3 million convicted adult offenders each year were drunk at the time of their offense, and in 75 percent of domestic violence cases, the offender is drunk at the time of the offense. "Bolstered by advanced monitoring technologies that makes it possible to enforce orders of abstinence, as well as better treatment programs, community corrections offers the best opportunity to reduce alcohol misuse related crime," says Talpins.

NPAMC was founded in September 2008 with the goal of bringing together the vast expertise, research and resources dedicated to tackling the issues related to epidemic rates of alcohol misuse and crime. NPAMC is comprised of more than 50 Participating Organizations, and the aim is to provide criminal justice agencies across the U.S. with proven, evidence-based program models that will reduce the exorbitant financial burden taxpayers bare managing alcohol offenders by reducing the rate of alcohol-related recidivism.

In 2008, the Pew Center on the States (a NPAMC Participating Organization) released a study titled "One in 100: Behind Bars in America," highlighting the epidemic rates and costs of incarceration in the U.S., where one in every 100 adults is now behind bars. In 2009, Pew released "One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections," which shows that a staggering one in every 31 U.S. adults is under correctional supervision. "Alcohol-involved offenders are literally paralyzing the criminal justice system, clogging court dockets, caseloads and our jails and prisons. We can no longer afford to simply debate the issue," says Talpins.

About NPAMC

The National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime is a public-private partnership established to bring together stakeholders in the issue of alcohol misuse and crime in order to effectively change the way the U.S. justice system manages and rehabilitates alcohol-involved offenders. Established in 2008, NPAMC is comprised of 50 Participating Organizations and their representatives, including scientists and researchers, justice professionals, victims groups, treatment professionals, the corrections industry, pharmaceutical and technology companies, policy experts, distilleries and policy experts. Based in Washington, D.C., NPAMC operates with two voluntary staff members and is funded by both private donations and sponsorships from its Participating Organizations.

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Stephen Talpins

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SOURCE National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime