KOKOMO, Ind. — Fail a drug test while on probation in Indiana, and you go home to await a warrant for your arrest to arrive. Violate that drug test in Hawaii, and count on a quick trip to jail.
There, they ironically call it the HOPE program — Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement.
Here, they’ll probably call it something else. But Hawaii’s basic idea of “swift, certain and proportionate” punishment for the violator appears to be gaining traction in Indiana.
Recidivism, the bane of law enforcement, isn’t well-tracked in Indiana, according to Don Travis, chief probation officer of Howard County Courts and president of the Probation Officers Professional Association of Indiana.
But in Hawaii, researchers have compared recidivism rates of control groups alongside probationers enrolled in the HOPE program. According to a National Institute of Justice study of the program, the HOPE group was 55 percent less likely to re-offend, and 72 percent less likely to use drugs.
“If the offender knows they might be called [for a drug screen] and they’ve got a drink in their hand, or are about to smoke marijuana, he might say, ‘Let me think about this for a second,’” Travis said.
State Rep. Ralph Foley, R-Martinsville, the key proponent of sentencing reform in the Indiana General Assembly, is a big fan of the HOPE program, as is Travis.
HOPE offenders are first given a warning from a judge, a notice that any violation of probation will result in an immediate, brief, jail stay. They are also given a color code.
Under HOPE, probationers typically receive notice of a drug test as much as one month ahead of time, and are required to call a hotline each day to see if it’s their turn to take a drug screen. If their color is selected that day, they have to appear before 2 p.m. at the probation office for a drug test.
Fail the drug screen, and off to jail you go.
“You learn when you’re a little kid that a parent doesn’t usually take three weeks to decide what the punishment will be,” Travis said. Law enforcement is increasingly turning to more “evidence-based” practices, ideas which have a proven track record of results, he added.
“Researchers have suggested that the closer you get from the violation to the time of punishment, the more meaningful that punishment is,” Travis said.
Parts of the HOPE program already are being implemented in Allen County, and the probation officers’ association brought in Hawaii First Circuit Court Judge Steven Alm to speak this year at its annual convention. Alm is considered the architect of the program.
Indiana justice officials “were using ‘scream therapy’ for a while,” Travis quipped.
“It doesn’t work, so we said, ‘Let’s find things that have an effect on behavior, that change behavior,’” he added.
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