SERIALIZATION COMPLETE: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF NADCP AND THE DRUG COURT MOVEMENT: 1990-2001

The final chapters of my book have been completed and serialized  and the rewriting begins. I will publish the volume this year, the twenty-fifth Anniversary of NADCP (2019). Serialization gives me an opportunity to get feedback from the many who may read all or parts of the book. More importantly it gives those with insights and information (both personal and otherwise) an opportunity to correct mistakes and help edit the final product. Please feel free to contact me personally at [email protected] with your comments.

As the founding President of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), and founding Director of the National Drug Court Institute, it occurred to me that the story of a first person participant would be very different from that of an observer, and from that perspective, be worth the telling. So this then is the previously untold story of how NADCP and the Drug Court Movement came into being.

The book to be published, mostly describes the first dozen years of the Drug Court Movement, and NADCP, which many consider the premiere criminal justice reform organization in the nation (In 2012, Professor Kathleen Halle of Auburn University, in her book, “How Information Matters” described NADCP as the “Champion” of NGOs. She found it to be the best among extraordinary organizations; “whose structure, initiatives, strategies, and planning define excellence in the non-profit world.”)

So I write to describe how NADCP came to be a “Champion NGO”. The thesis of this book is that under the right circumstances, a single individual, committed to a vision, willing to make sacrifices, and accept challenges, can change the direction of an Institution, as entrenched, as the Criminal Justice System. The purpose is to tell my story and in so doing, explain and describe the beginnings of NADCP, NDCI, and the Drug Court Movement. And more importantly, to encourage those who are frustrated by conventional wisdom, to strike out and create their own path toward institutional reform.