Pacific Century Fellows— D.A.R.E. and Re-Entry Court

Quite an amazing spectacle seeing 10,000 fifth graders screaming at the top of their lungs for their D.A.R.E. instructors, HPD, and the variety of entertainers at the Stan Sheriff Center. From what I gathered, 85% of school districts in the United States have a D.A.R.E. program that supports public and private schools. (Punahou does not participate. I've been assured by school administrators that it is not a deliberate snub but that the school has designed programs of its own to address those issues.) Some of the speakers included Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona (a former family court judge and ardent anti-drug crusader), Mayor Mufi Hanneman, Major Michael Thomas— D.A.R.E. coordinator, Chief Louis Kealoha, and Deputy Chiefs Macadangdang (Rap Replinger would be proud) and Tatsuyama. One of the funniest moments was when Chief Kealoha and Deputy Chief Macadangdang were conducting a public school versus private school quiz on the D.A.R.E. program goals, Chief Kealoha asked a girl from Star of the Sea (who just so happened to be his daughter) "What does the 'E' in 'Education' stand for?" After a brief pause, he realized his mistake and started laughing at himself while his daughter looked on with the horrified expression of a fifth grader whose father just embarrassed her in front of 10,000 of her contemporaries. Exhibiting the qualities that show what a great chief that he is and the father that he must be, they both laughed it off, adjusted, and then rolled with it. Overall it was a great experience.

After the D.A.R.E. event we went down to the Federal Building to hear a presentation about the pilot Re-Entry Court Program for federal offenders being released from prison. The participants were: Alexander (Ali) Silvert, Federal Public Defender's Office; Rich Crawford, Chief Probation Officer; Beverly Sameshima, US Attorney's Office; Robin DeMello, US Probation Officer; and Judge Kobayashi.

Mr. Silvert started with a brief explanation of "supervised release" and how that term is interchangeable with "probation" and "parole". Technically there is no parole in federal sentencing so most people serve their full sentences. 85% of all people charged with crimes plead guilty and only about 6% actually go to trial, and then that's where he comes in to help them exercise their "right to an attorney."

Rich Crawford then gave a very detailed presentation of how the Probation/Re-Entry system has moved towards an evidence-based practice of using current research in helping offenders make the transition back into the community. In 1980, there were approximately 24,000 people in the federal system whereas in 2010 there are approximately 210,000. 1 out of 42-45 of them is under community-based supervision of some kind. (It has gotten to the point where in California education is outspent by corrections.) One conclusion he says everyone seems to agree on is that scare tactics-based programs (i.e. Scared Straight, etc.) do not work. What works, according to the evidence, are practices more geared towards collaboration and organizational development. These include:
1) assessing actuarial risk
2) enhance intrinsic motivation (interviewing)
3) targeted intervention
— risk
— need
— responsivity
— dosage
— treatment
They are moving towards a model that stresses alliance first, compliance second. If people perceive that they were treated fairly by the system then they are more lilely to succeed in their rehabilitation. Since the 1980s, the recidivism rate is up because the emphasis was more on punishment (lock 'em up!) than rehabilitation.

In Hawai'i there are approximately 800 people under supervision— 86% are in supervised release, 8% are on probation, and 6% are magistrate cases (I didn't really understand that last distinction). The recidivism rate is currently 8%. Some of the methods to combat recidivism are:
1) structured learning
2) modelling
3) problem solving
4) re-enforcement
5) use of authority
6) effective disapproval
It is also important to recognize criminogenic needs among offenders:
— anti-social behavior
— anti-social values
— criminal peers
— low self-control

For the most part, and this part connects to what we heard earlier from Public Safety Director Clayton Frank, US Attorney Char Nakakuni, and Special Agent in Charge Char Thornton, drugs play a major role in all crimes— 32.6% of all crimes nationally, 46.9% in Hawai'i. Of those crimes, 86% are due to crystal methamphetamine (compared to 17% nationally) and only 5% due to marijuana. Once again this dichotomy begs the question: why are we spending any money combating marijuana use? Rather than considering it a 'gateway' drug, maybe it should be called a 'trampoline' drug or 'rocket-propelled' drug because according to those statistics people must try marijuana once and then get everyone they know to move over to ice. That doesn't seem to make any sense.

Robin DeMello then spoke about the pilot program and how it's worked in Hawai'i. They target high-risk offenders— drug, sex, white collar— with cognitive behavior treatment intervention methods. There are currently 8 people in the pilot: 4 men and 4 women ranging in age from 24 to 58, diverse ethnicities, 7 of them with drug violations.

The goals of the program are:
— reduce recidivism
— help transition/ reintegration back into the community
— promote public safety
It is a one year program that requires the offenders to meet with a team and other participants twice a month. In the meetings they engage in intensive cognitive behavior treatment activities such as interactive journaling— learn a concept, write about it, practice it. There are incentives (such as gift cards) for achieving of goals and sanctions for missteps. If they succeed in the program then they get one year taken off their supervision (that proved to be the greatest incentive in getting offenders to volunteer for the pilot program).

The presentation concluded with short testimonials from the participants (showing the power of story) in which they all genuinely seemed to believe that they had benefitted from the attention and collaboration with other group members. The most compelling element for me was when a woman who had been convicted for a drug crime expresses her happiness that the US Attorney who had prosecuted her was a part of the Re-Entry team because she wanted to thank her for saving her life.

This unique approach to helping convicted criminals become productive citizens definitely seemed to work. I hope that it gets the proper funding so that it can be brought to scale, but like all good government programs that actually work, I fear that it won't.