NCJ Number
75347
Date Published
1979
Length
35 pages
Annotation
Two of the four judicial countermeasure activities, Prosecution and Court Services, of the San Antonio Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP) in Texas were evaluated for this paper. It was concluded that the court system was helped, but not to the extent anticipated.
Abstract
The Prosecution Countermeasure added Assistant District Attorneys and a Supervisory District Attorney to process the increased Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) caseload from increased arrest activity. The Court Services Countermeasure provided a court coordinator and additional court dockets to process DWI cases. The evaluation focused on comparing dispositions during ASAP with dispositions for a baseline period before ASAP. A random sample of 100 DWI's was randomly selected for each year, 50 arrested by San Antonio police and processed normally, and 50 arrested by ASAP Selective Enforcement Countermeasure personnel and processed through ASAP. The 100 DWI drivers in each sample were prearrest tracked for 1 year and postarrest tracked for 3 years. The distribution of dispositions during ASAP years met project goals for increasing probation dispositions, although jail sentences were light and rarely given and licenses were rarely suspended. Analysis of processing time to disposition indicated that the courts were able to process the enormous increase in DWI arrests, although processing times increased drastically in 1972 before decreasing in 1973; judicial elections in 1974 caused processing times to increase in 1974. Overall, few performance estimates were met, dismissed rates were higher than planned, conviction rates were lower than planned, and backlog to disposition to disposition rates were better than planned in 1973. Probationers had the lowest DWI recidivism rate and one of the lowest subsequent accident rates of any of the disposition groups. Tables and flow charts are included.