Evaluation of Safe Streets Treatment Option to Reduce Recidivism Among Repeat Drunk Driving Offenders

• Published date: 01 December 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403418789473
• Date: 01 December 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403418789473

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2019, Vol. 30(9) 1368 –1384

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403418789473

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https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403418789473

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2019, Vol. 30(9) 1368 –1384

© The Author(s) 2018

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403418789473

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Article

Evaluation of Safe Streets

Treatment Option to Reduce

Recidivism Among Repeat

Drunk Driving Offenders

Tina L. Freiburger1 and Alyssa M. Sheeran1

Abstract

Drinking and driving poses a significant issue in the United States. Repeat offenders

are especially problematic as they are responsible for a high proportion of all drunk

driving offenses and are more likely to continue in their drinking and driving behaviors.

This study examines the effectiveness of the Safe Streets Treatment Options

Program (SSTOP) in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, to reduce recidivism among

repeat offenders. The results indicate that participants of SSTOP had significantly

fewer convictions, fewer subsequent sentences to incarceration, were sentenced to

fewer days incarcerated in jail for subsequent offenses, and were less likely to receive

another Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) conviction than those in the comparison

group. Policy implications and directions for future research also are discussed.

Keywords

drunk driving, recidivism, propensity score matching, repeat offenders

The combination of alcohol consumption and driving poses a significant problem

throughout the United States. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (2017), 28 people in the United States die every day in alcohol-

related vehicle crashes. From 2010 to 2014, more than 10,000 people have died

each year in drunk driving crashes, and in 2015 there were 10,265 deaths from

alcohol-impaired crashes. While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

1University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, WI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Tina L. Freiburger, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, P.O. Box 786,

1119 Enderis Hall, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA.

Email: freiburg@uwm.edu

789473CJPXXX10.1177/0887403418789473Criminal Justice Policy ReviewFreiburger and Sheeran

research-article2018

Freiburger and Sheeran 1369

(2017) reports that drunk driving fatalities have decreased by a third in the last few

decades, the chance of being in an alcohol-related crash remains one in three over

the course of an individual’s lifetime.

Although drinking and driving is an issue in every state, Wisconsin is of particu-

lar importance because it is the only state that does not criminalize first-time drink-

ing and driving offenses. Instead, first-time offenses are considered a traffic violation

for which offenders are given a fine and license suspension and are required to

complete an alcohol/drug use assessment (Wisconsin Department of Transportation,

2018, January 29). In addition, in comparison to the national average, the prevalence

of alcohol-impaired driving and binge drinking in Wisconsin is among the highest in

the nation. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report found that 24% of

Wisconsin residents drove impaired within the previous year, which was almost

twice the national rate of 13% (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

Administration, 2012; Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 2016). More

recently, in 2015 the Wisconsin Department of Transportation reported that alcohol-

related crashes killed approximately 190 people and injured nearly 2,900 individuals

in the state (Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 2017a). With such a high

prevalence of drinking and driving, it should come as no surprise that Wisconsin’s

rates of operating while intoxicated (OWI)1 arrests and convictions of repeat OWI

offenders are staggering as well. In Wisconsin, there were 24,754 people arrested for

an OWI and 24,012 people convicted of an OWI offense in 2015. Of those individu-

als convicted, 15,277 were for a first offense; 7,913 were for a second, third, or

fourth offense; and 759 were for a fifth, sixth, or seventh offense. An additional 63

had eight or more OWI offenses (Wisconsin Department of Health Services, 2016).

It is apparent that the prevalence of alcohol consumption and OWI poses a signifi-

cant problem in Wisconsin. Such statistics highlight the need to identify effective

interventions that can reduce driving-impaired offenses. It is imperative, therefore,

that efforts be implemented and evaluated to determine whether they are effective at

reducing rates of OWIs. The current study examined the effectiveness of one pro-

gram in Wisconsin, Safe Streets Treatment Options Program (SSTOP), to reduce

OWIs and criminal offending among participants.

Review of the Literature

Numerous studies have been conducted to determine which types of programs and

sanctions are most effective in reducing drunk driving recidivism. These studies have

indicated that one of the most effective means to reduce drunk driving is to target

known offenders (i.e., repeat driving-impaired offenders). As prior literature demon-

strates, repeat offenders are responsible for a large proportion of all drunk driving

offenses and are more likely to continue in their drinking and driving behaviors than

first-time offenders (Impinen et al., 2009; Marowitz, 1998; Miller, Curtis, Sonderlund,

Day, & Droste, 2015; Yu & Williford, 1995). With this in mind, several programs have

been implemented to reduce repeat offending among drunk driving offenders. These

include intensive supervision programs, educational programming, treatment pro-

gramming, and programs that are a combination of these methods.