EVALUATION OF THE NSW DRINK DRIVER DIVERSION PROGRAMME

In the drink-drive rehabilitation program described here, the drink-drive offenders who meet the selection criteria and who entered a plea of guilty (or who were found guilty) were given the option of referral by the court to a rehabilitation course of approximately 8 weeks prior to final sentencing. The program was designed for offenders who had not been deterred from drunk-driving by criminal penalties, so that the first selection criterion was at least one prior conviction for a drink-driving offence. The second criterion was that of having a BAC of 0.15 or above. The program was evaluated by comparison of the program entrants with comparison groups. The results of the study are presented. These results relate to such aspects as age, marital status, occupational ranking, previous convictions, and the penalties imposed. Analysis was also undertaken to determine the impact of several variables on subsequent conviction rates. In general, young offenders were reconvicted at higher rates among the non-entrants than in the program entrants group itself.