Youthful Drunk Driving Program
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OKLAHOMA
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PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS |
PROGRAM AREA(S) |
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Innovative or non-traditional approach |
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Youth Programs |
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Targets hard-to-reach/at risk population |
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Alcohol and Other Drugs |
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TYPE OF JURISDICTION |
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Multijurisdictional |
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TARGETED POPULATION(S) |
JURISDICTION SIZE |
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Youth |
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750,000 |
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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) is the leading cause of death
among Oklahoma youth under the age of 25. In 1995, the Tulsa Police Department
made 3,676 arrests for alcohol-related offenses; and Tulsa County District
Court processed more than 3,000 misdemeanors and felonies for impaired driving.
More than 50 percent of the prosecutions were for repeat DUI offenses, and
nearly 30 percent of the repeat offenders had already been prosecuted for
at least two previous offenses.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The Youthful Drunk Driving Program was created in 1996 in response to a
recommendation by the state's Underage Drinking Report, which identified
a need to develop community initiatives aimed at altering the current behaviors
of youth regarding drinking and driving. The goal of the program was the
reduction of fatalities and injuries from motor vehicle crashes involving
alcohol-impaired youth, and included the following objectives:
- Forming a coalition of community resources to
address the problem
- Developing a program designed to affect the attitudes
and behavior of youth offenders
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The Community Service Council of the Greater Tulsa Area Prevention Resource
Center, together with the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, developed and
implemented the Youthful Drunk Driving Program. The program is modeled after
a similar program in Orange County, California, and features a partnership
of community resources comprised of the Tulsa County District Court, the
District Attorney's Office, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Tulsa
Police Department and a variety of local medical centers. The coalition
designed a court-ordered alternative sentencing program for youth offenders
of alcohol- or drug-related laws. The program highlights included the following:
- Youth offenders spent several hours in an
area emergency room to observe treatment of patients of alcohol-related
trauma
- Offenders spent two hours at a hospital rehabilitation
center specializing in the rehabilitation of patients suffering from severe
spinal cord or neurological injuries, both observing and participating
in patient therapy sessions
- Youth were required to attend a MADD victim-impact
meeting in which surviving family members recounted the devastating effects
of drunk driving on their families
- Youth offenders participated in Alcohol Education/Counseling
small-group sessions with other offenders to discuss their program experiences,
evaluate their personal behavior, learn about substance abuse, and obtain
referral information
- The youth were required to write a 1,000-word
essay for the Court
RESULTS
Implementation of the Youthful Drunk Driving Program resulted in a very
low recidivism rate. At the end of the first 12 months of the program during
1996, only 1.9 percent of 200 youth participants in the program had been
re-arrested on an alcohol-related driving charge, compared to the national
recidivism rate of approximately 30 percent. |
FUNDING |
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Section 402: |
$20,630 |
CONTACT |
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Rose Ewing
Project Coordinator
Community Service Council of Greater Tulsa
1430 South Boulder
Tulsa, OK 74119
(918) 5855551 |
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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
Fall 1997 |