A Missouri judge who has become a national leader in the drug court movement is stepping down from his national leadership post next week.  Supreme Court judge Ray Price has been the President of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.  He’ll continue to work with the organization and with the drug court system in Missouri after he leaves his presidency. 

Price refers to Missouri as a national leader in the field.  He notes Missouri’s drug court system deals with three-thousand people, the equivalent of the population of two prisons that would cost the state about 60-milion dollars to build.  He says the system also has a greater success rate than traditional incarceration.

Price says drug courts are essential for removal of the prime motivation behind crime.

He calls it a step in creating a system of evidence-based sentencing that bases sentencing on  the criminal’s needs and risks.  

 Listen to news conference with Judge Price 11:40 mp3