NCJ Number
104442
Date Published
1986
Length
13 pages
Annotation
An outline of an educational program for family and friends of drunk driving offenders accompanies a rationale for involving these collaterals in the rehabilitation process.
Abstract
From 60 to 80 percent of convicted drunk drivers are alcoholics or serious problem drinkers whose problems can impair their social, marital, family, and vocational adjustment. A significant proportion of drunk driving offenders have an intact social support system, however. Drunk driver programs should follow the trend of alcoholism programs, which generally regard alcoholism as a family illness and recognize the needs of family members and significant others for treatment. Crisis theory has formed the basis of successful approaches to involving collaterals in treatment. Project CRASH, Vermont's 4-session, 10-hour reeducation school, offers $50 rebates on the $115 fee to offenders if a family member or significant other completes the program. The three sessions provide information about alcohol and the disease of alcoholism and give collaterals the chance to examine alcohol's impact on their family, to learn about coping skills, and to receive information about resources available to them. A final individual interview helps collaterals summarize their learning and develop a plan of continued treatment or intervention. Other programs based on this model could use either financial or nonfinancial incentives such as shorter suspensions of licenses. 45 references.