Program Description:
T he Hardcore Drunk Driver Project is funded by the Illinois Department
of Transportation/Division of Traffic Safety to address
the problem of the hardcore drunk driver (HCDD) in Illinois. The
major components of the Hardcore Drunk Driving Project include
training for DUI system stakeholders on the hardcore drunk
driver and the checklist, research regarding the usefulness of the
checklist to identify the hardcore drunk driver, and the Hardcore
Drunk Driver Task Force created in 2009 to establish and ensure
implementation of best practices for those working with the hardcore
drunk driver.
Training:
Members of the Institute work closely with the grant monitor from
IDOT/DTS to design, develop and deliver training. These trainings
take the form of seminars for DUI system stakeholder groups
including law enforcement, prosecutors, and probation officers.
Training DVDs created on campus have been developed to use
during the seminars to provide a hands-on experience for the participants
using the HCDD checklist. The Institute is developing
online training which may also include the use of DVDs created on
campus.
Checklist:
As part of the Illinois Department of Transportation/Division of
Traffic Safety (IDOT/DTS) grant, in 2006 the article, Recognizing,
Managing and Containing the Hardcore Drinking Driver summarized
the research on the hardcore drinking driver and provided a
checklist to aid with the identification of this high risk offender.
The Institute has piloted the checklist in several probation departments
in Illinois asking DUI officers to complete the checklist
with offenders to test its usefulness in identifying the hardcore
drunk driver. Recidivism data were also collected from the pilot
sites on those offenders who had been interviewed using the
checklist to determine if it was a predictive instrument. Further
research and analysis has been conducted to determine relationships
among the variables and the domains. It is a resource that
supplements other intake and assessment tools in order to help
determine whether an offender’s profile is consistent with that of
a hardcore drunk driver. It helps probation officers to adequately
identify offenders at high risk of recidivism and future alcoholrelated
problems, links offenders to the best treatment resources
and provides guidance for post-treatment recovery and appropriate
relapse intervention.
The checklist identifies 38 characteristics of hardcore drunk
drivers categorized in six domains that help identify areas that
may indicate a problem for an offender. After the checklist is completed,
a score is generated and indicates level of recidivism risk.