Springfield, MO
wo local stories in our paper Tuesday are connected in a fashion worth noting.
AdvertisementOne cited difficulties faced by the officials running the crowded Greene County jail. They cannot provide safe, private space for attorneys to talk over cases with inmates.
The other told of the successes of the county’s DWI court. It helps rehabilitate people accused of felony-level drunken driving so they don’t have to spend years in jail.
See the tie-in?
Obviously, we cannot continue to incarcerate people at the rate we’ve been going in Greene County, or Missouri as a whole. With costs of jails spiraling and the rate of recidivism high, programs like the DWI court remain bright spots on a bleak horizon.
In Tuesday’s story, proponents of the court relayed high hopes for more funding for expansion.
As it stands, the court only takes defendants accused of their third DWI, cases that rise to a felony. Greene County DWI court Judge Peggy Davis wants to reach down to second-time offenders, seeking earlier intervention in the at-times deadly cycle of drinking and driving.
She said Kansas statistics show recidivism as high as 80 percent for second-time DWI offenders. Meanwhile, the rate of recidivism for those who go through Greene’s program is lower than 7 percent.
Started in late 2003, the Greene court has enrolled 401 defendants, with about 100 presently in the program. A total of 187 graduated successfully. Of those, the court has been able to track only 12 re-offenders.
The program lasts at least 18 months and involves counseling, strict monitoring, lab testing, community service and sometimes short “shock” prison sentences. Often, Davis says, graduates go on to help others fight for sobriety.
Those who don’t complete the program must go back before a judge on a probation violation and often end up incarcerated, Davis said.
Offenders pay $2,000 each to enter the court. For other funding, the court taps into various streams of state monies, for instance funds earmarked for mental health counseling. Court officials say that on average taxpayers pay about $4.42 per day for each court participant. (As a comparison, the state Department of Corrections spends about 10 times that much daily per inmate.)
Still, an expansion of the DWI court will require more funds. We’re glad to see officials make that push, and we support it.
As one of only four programs in the country named as a teaching court, Greene’s effort has been recognized as a success. Finding money to expand it would help keep roadways safer, jails less crowded and would-be inmates functioning in society.
That sounds like a good investment — especially when we cannot even deal with inmates already behind bars.