Citation

Voas RB, Dupont RL, Talpins SK, Shae CL. Addiction 2011; 106(7): 1221-1227.

Affiliation

Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation 11720 Beltsville Drive, Suite 900 Calverton, MD 20705 The Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. 6191 Executive Boulevard Rockville, MD 20852 National Partnership on Alcohol Misuse and Crime 2121 Jamieson Avenue, Unit 511 Alexandria, VA 22314.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03339.x

PMID

21205054

Abstract

Aim: To describe a proposed national model for controlling the risk presented by offenders convicted of driving while impaired (DWI) and promoting behavioral change to reduce future recidivism. Setting: Current methods of controlling the risk they present to the driving public are not adequate, as indicated by the fact that the crashes in which they are involved result in 1,000 alcohol-related fatalities each year. However, stimulated by the success of special drug courts for substance abusers, and new technological methods for monitoring drug and alcohol use, new criminal justice programs for managing impaired driving offenders are emerging. Intervention: A national model for a comprehensive system applicable to both drug and alcohol impaired drivers is proposed. The program focuses on monitoring offender drinking or the offender driving employing vehicle interlocks with swift, sure but moderate penalties for noncompliance in which the ultimate sanction is based on offender performance in meeting monitoring requirements. Findings: Several new court programs such as the 24/7 sobriety program in South Dakota and North Dakota and the HOPE program in Hawaii which feature alcohol/drug consumption monitoring have produced evidence that indicates even dependent drinkers can conform to abstinence monitoring requirements and avoid the short-term jail consequence for failure. Conclusions: Based on the apparent success of emerging court monitoring systems, it appears that the cost of incarcerating DWI offenders can be minimized by employing low cost community correction programs paid for by the offender.

Language: en