The association's founding was the idea of Beecher S. Clother, the district attorney in Glen Falls (Warren County), New York.
[2]: 25 Issues it addressed at its annual meetings in 1910 and 1911 included oral bookmaking (the taking of racetrack bets without writing), the need to curb reckless automobile driving, and the proper place of the insanity defense.
The association once resisted change to the Rockefeller drug laws, but came to favor the idea of alternative courts and treatment for addicts and substance abusers, including the Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison or program, first implemented by District Attorney Charles J. Hynes from Kings County, New York.
[citation needed] The association has at times requested that the legislature fund more prosecutors to staff these courts.
[citation needed] As of 2009, the association disseminated information on its website about the existing network of drug courts, and how the courts seek justice for addicts through education, intervention and diversion programs, and treatment, in order to reduce recidivism and related criminal conduct.