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Towards a national model for managing impaired driving offenders
Author(s) -
Voas Robert B.,
DuPont Robert L.,
Talpins Stephen K.,
Shea Corinne L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03339.x
Subject(s) - sobriety , recidivism , driving under the influence , poison control , criminal justice , law enforcement , sex offender , enforcement , injury prevention , drunk drivers , suicide prevention , abstinence , drug court , psychology , computer security , criminology , psychiatry , medicine , medical emergency , drunk driving , political science , computer science , law
Aims 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 Traditional methods of controlling the risk they present to the driving public are not adequate, as indicated by the fact that approximately 1000 people are killed each year‐in alcohol‐related crashes involving drivers convicted of DWI in the previous three years. 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 non‐compliance 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 Project in South Dakota and North Dakota and the Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) Project, 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 driving‐while‐impaired offenders can be minimized by employing low‐cost community correction programs paid for by the offender.