Background Information
Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities (TASC) was created in 1972 under the Drug Abuse and Treatment Act. This program model was designed to break the addiction-crime cycle of non-violent, drug-involved offenders by linking the legal sanctions of the criminal justice system with the therapeutic interventions of drug treatment programs.
In July 1992, the General Assembly of the State of Delaware enacted House Bill 588 which created a permanent Treatment Access Committee (TAC) of the Delaware Sentencing Accountability Commission. TAC was legislatively mandated to "Supervise the establishment of a Treatment Access Center (TASC) for substance abusing offenders...to coordinate the provision of substance abuse evaluation and treatment by public and private providers to criminal defendants and youths adjudicated delinquent or pending such adjudication" and "Supervise the expenditure of funds from the Substance Abuse Rehabilitation, Treatment, Education and Prevention Fund...by making grants to the Treatment Access Center, and other state and local public entities or agencies for substance abuse treatment, rehabilitation, education or prevention activities."
TAC adopted a working mission to "expand and improve treatment services for offenders and supervise the establishment of a mechanism to coordinate the provision of compulsory treatment so that the coercive powers of the criminal justice system are utilized to maximize the benefits of treatment for offenders".
In 1995, TASC was incorporated into the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. TASC's organizational structure is to:
- Expand treatment for offenders by conducting a needs assessment and ongoing analyses to better describe the offender population in terms of drug use and risk to the public, and to recommend the development of treatment programming;
- Provide ongoing data and information for use by Corrections, treatment, and other decision makers;
- Develop grant applications and otherwise access funding for treatment expansion and coordination in order to provide a funding stream so providers who embrace the philosophies and strategies associated with compulsory treatment can flourish;
- Provide policy development, goals and objectives;
- Provide support for providers of treatment and supervision so that policies, goals and objectives can be effectively implemented. This is accomplished through training, information sharing, and establishing structures to improve collaboration, cross-training and healthy competition among providers; and
- Act as a point of contact for treatment advocacy with the Governor's Office, Legislature, and other concerned groups.
Return to TASC .
