NCJ Number
185093
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 27 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2000 Pages: 531-560
Date Published
October 2000
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This article outlines a relapse-prevention cognitive-behavioral treatment program for offenders convicted of driving while disqualified.
Abstract
Driving while disqualified--that is, during a period of license revocation--is a serious and recurrent social problem. About 54 percent of convicted individuals are reconvicted in the ensuing 6 years. One-hundred-forty-four treated offenders were reconvicted of further violations of license revocation at a significantly lower rate than offenders in a matched comparison group. Although no difference was found for subsequent drunk-driving convictions, the program may have reduced other subsequent criminal offending. In addition, there were significant pre- to posttreatment changes on a number of relevant social competency variables. These results provide support for the efficacy of a relapse-prevention approach to this group of offenders and for identification of disqualified drivers as a distinct subgroup of driving offenders. More efficient screening of group members who have current alcohol-related driving problems and/or an alcohol treatment module would increase still further the effectiveness of the treatment for driving while disqualified. Tables, figures, references