An Evaluation of Three Intensive Supervision Programs for Serious DWI Offenders

There are many variations of supervision and probation programs for driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) offenders. These programs include case-specific restrictions (e.g., individualized conditions to probation), unsupervised probation, basic supervision probation (e.g., regularly scheduled visits to probation services with varying frequency), and intensive supervision probation (which may involve many program components and close monitoring). Offenders who receive monitoring through intensive supervision programs (ISPs) have more contact with probation officers, a judge, or other designated authorities compared to standard (nonintensive) probation programs. Three ISPs were evaluated: the Minnesota Staggered Sentencing Program, the Westchester County New York DWI Enforcement Program, and the Oregon Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII) Intensive Supervision Program (DISP). The Minnesota program appeared to be successful in reducing offender recidivism in a relatively small ISP (n=200 offenders in the program). Compared to a similar matched group of DWI offenders, the staggered sentencing offenders had a significant 30.6% lower recidivism rate (p=.017) up to 4 years postoffense. The program prevented an estimated 15 to 23 re-arrests for DWI. Compared to a matched group of offenders, the Westchester County program appeared to be effective in the short term (18.1% lower recidivism in 5 years postoffense [p<.001]) but not in the long term (only 5.4% [p=.171] lower recidivism in 15 years postoffense). This program resulted in an estimated 78 fewer re-arrests for DWI in the first 5 years. The Oregon DISP intervention group had 54.1% lower recidivism up to 8 years postindex offense than both of the stratified matched-sample comparison groups, adjusting for the demographic covariates (Wald=51.50; p>.001). The program prevented 67 re-arrests for DWI in the first 8 years. The benefit/cost of ISPs appears to be very good for the prevention of re-arrests.