Further support for London’s ‘sobriety scheme’ for offenders

An innovative alcohol monitoring program imposed upon thousands of alcohol-involved offenders in South Dakota, USA, helps reduce drink drive arrests and domestic violence arrests, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The findings are encouraging for London which, as an initiative of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is currently piloting a similar scheme based on the Dakota model.

Examining the first six years of South Dakota’s 24/7 Sobriety Project, Rand researchers found that frequent alcohol testing with swift and moderate sanctions for those caught using alcohol reduced county-level repeat drink drive arrests by 12% and domestic violence arrests by 9%. There was mixed evidence about whether the program reduced traffic crashes.

The results, published online by the American Journal of Public Health, are from the first assessment of the program published in a peer-reviewed journal.

“The South Dakota 24/7 Sobriety Project is reducing both repeat DUI (drink drive) and domestic abuse arrests at the county-level,” said Beau Kilmer, the study’s lead author and a senior policy researcher at RAND. “The results suggest that frequent alcohol testing with swift, certain and modest sanctions for violations can reduce problem drinking and improve public health outcomes.”

Under the South Dakota program, individuals arrested or convicted of an alcohol-involved offense can be required to undergo twice-a-day breathalyzer tests, typically once in the morning and once in the evening, or wear continuous alcohol monitoring bracelets. Individuals who fail or skip required tests are immediately subject to a short jail term, typically a day or two.

The concept was proposed by the South Dakota Attorney General in 2004 and by the end of 2010 more than 17,000 of the state’s nearly 825,000 residents had participated in the program, including more than 10% of the males aged 18 to 40 in some counties. From 2005 to 2010, program participants were ordered to take approximately 3.7 million breathalyzer tests, with the pass rate exceeding 99% (99.3% clean, 0.36% failed, 0.34% no shows), suggesting the programme may have helped reduce heavy drinking among those enrolled.

The 24/7 program is now used throughout South Dakota and similar efforts have been adopted in North Dakota and other jurisdictions.

Beau Kilmer, Nancy Nicosia, Paul Heaton, and Greg Midgette. Efficacy of Frequent Monitoring With Swift, Certain, and Modest Sanctions for Violations: Insights From South Dakota’s 24/7 Sobriety Project. American Journal of Public Health: January 2013, Vol. 103, No. 1, pp. e37-e43. doi: 10.2105/ AJPH.2012.300989