The decision to recommend alcoholism treatment for DWI offenders

The decision to recommend alcoholism treatment for convicted drinking drivers is examined for a treatment program in Western New York. A total of 2,061 client files were abstracted for these analyses. The Mortimer-Filkins score and the blood alcohol concentration at the time of arrest were the two best discriminating variables in the decision to recommend treatment in these analyses. When these scores were high, additional information was not needed. However, when these scores were in the low or midranges, other variables became crucial to the decision-making process. Further investigation of variables not available in these analyses is needed to determine the decision-making process for clients with low or midrange Mortimer-Filkins and BAC scores.