It's not a 'hug-a-drunk'
program
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Over the past 34 years , Kent Lawrence has been a patrolman, police
chief, D.A.'s investigator and private attorney.
For the past 20, he's been a Clarke County State Court judge.
In 2001 he started the state's first DUI court for repeat offenders.
"It's simple,'' he said of the court's concept. "Traditional
sentences for repeat offenders simply do not work.''
It is his model that Chatham County State Court Judge H. Gregory
Fowler seized on to form the local program.
Fowler's program varies somewhat from the Athens model. It relies
more heavily on Alcoholics Anonymous, for example.
Clarke, Chatham and Hall counties each operate pilot demonstration
programs initially funded by grants from the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration through the Georgia Administrative Office of
Courts and the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.
Georgia was selected for the competitive grant in part because of the
Operation Zero Tolerance Campaign started in 2000, said Bob Dallas,
director of the Governors Office of Highway Safety.
The three pilot counties were selected in part because they offered a
diversity in populations, plus judges enthusiastic to take on the job,
Dallas said.
Those three counties were also "overrepresented in impaired driving,"
primarily DUIs, Dallas said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is handling
the analysis of the programs, is comparing prior years' recidivism
rates, the rate of people in the programs, and those who did not
participate in such programs, Dallas said.
Lawrence's model is based on incentives and rewards for compliance
and sanctions and consequences for non-compliance.
It is tough.
"We don't run a hug-a-drunk program,'' Lawrence said.
Each of the 115-125 participants do jail time. Each must participate
in a five-phase program that takes from 12 to 36 months to complete. The
average time is 19 months.
Participants pay their own way.
Lawrence said no local taxpayer dollars are spent on the program,
which is self-sufficient with the assistance of federal funds.
He relies on treatment clinicians to develop individual programs.
He requires one AA meeting a week at first, then steps it up as the
participant sees sobriety works.
"Alcoholics Anonymous can be a very valuable tool, but it is not
treatment,'' Lawrence said. "Early on Alcoholics Anonymous may not be as
effective as down the road for certain participants.''
He is keenly aware these offenders are "high-risk.''
Only six program participants have re-offended since 2001, he said.
"We act immediately. That's the one basis for removal from our
program.''
Something seems to be working, he said.
"They've been miserable for 10, 15, 30 years of their lives,''
Lawrence said. "I've seen more lives transformed since February 2001
than I ever thought possible.''
-Jan Skutch | 