Citation

Leary BF. J. Emerg. Med. 1991; 9(Suppl 1): 15-19.

Affiliation

Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis, Sacramento 95817.

Comment In:

J Emerg Med. 1991;9 Suppl 1:75-7

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0736-4679(91)90581-y

PMID

1955675

Abstract

Emergency department (ED) and morgue visits to view the results of accidents have recently been instituted as an alternative sentence for adolescents convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Although many DUI offenders are alcoholic, and educational programs intended to reduce recidivism in adults are generally not effective, scant data exist on adolescent offenders. Initial assessment of 59 of our program participants diagnosed 41% as alcoholic. This finding prompted further participant evaluation to define our population. Fifty-four participants evaluated by self-administered diagnostic questionnaire revealed an alcoholism rate of 54%. Additionally, recidivism rates for alcohol-related moving violations for 176 program participants and matched controls were 28% and 23%, respectively. The significance of these findings represents the serious alcohol problems faced by the study population and indicates that visitation programs are not effective for addressing the problems of alcoholic offenders or in reducing recidivism.

Language: en