Assessment of the 24/7 Sobriety Program in North Dakota: Participant Behavior During Enrollment

The 24/7 Sobriety Program is an intervention strategy mandating that repeat impaired driving offenders remain sober as a condition of bond or pre-trial release. The goal is to monitor the most dangerous offenders in North Dakota and require that these individuals remain sober in order to keep roadways safe from hazardous drivers. As a component of the program, offenders are required to submit to twice-a-day blood alcohol concentration tests, ankle bracelet monitoring, drug patches, urinalysis, or a combination of techniques. If a program participant fails to remain sober, the individual is sent directly to jail. During the most recent legislative biennium, the North Dakota legislature passed House Bill 1302, a resolution mandating that repeat offenders participate in the program for 12 months. This new legislation went into effect on August 1, 2013. This project seeks to understand if the 24/7 Sobriety Program has a positive deterrent effect on repeat impaired driving offenders. Results show that drivers significantly improve traffic metrics after enrolling in the program. The program appears to have more of a deterrent effect on women than on men. The mandatory 12-month enrollment period has a stronger deterrent effect than did prior sentences which were generally left to judicial discretion. Nonetheless, for a group of high-risk offenders – those who likely abuse alcohol and have issues with self-control – the program was found to have little positive effect on non-driving under the influence (DUI) convictions and crash patterns.