The Effects of a Drinker-Driver Treatment Program: Does Criminal History Make a Difference?

The impact of a 12-week group therapy treatment program for driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) offenders on DWI rearrest rates, self-reported drinking, and self-reported drinking and driving was appraised. Individuals with a criminal history, excluding DWI arrests, were more than twice as likely as those with no criminal history to be rearrested for a DWI within a 24-month period. The higher DWI recidivism rate for individuals with a prior criminal record was consistent across the dropout and treatment-completed subgroups. However, for individuals with no criminal history, the treatment-completed subgroup showed a significantly lower rate of recidivism than the dropouts. Follow-up self-report measures of frequency of drinking behavior showed similar differences with respect to criminal history. The results suggest that consideration of DWI subgroups, specifically criminal history, may be important when assessing the impact of intervention and treatment strategies.