Rehab plans reflect people’s needs

Arrested in front of Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, a man attributes his poor driving to his need to rush to the hospital.

He is spitting up blood.

What he seems to overlook: He drinks a fifth of vodka a day and has a .30 blood-alcohol level.

People like this are not uncommon on the road. While 75% of drunken-driving offenders don’t reoffend, the 25% who do are often in the throes of chronic alcoholism or psychological problems.

That is when the DUI program at Harbor Justice in Newport Beach deals with public safety in an alternative way.

Take the case just mentioned.

Workers for the program found the man had a 30-year history of alcoholism; they asked themselves if a jail cell would do much good.

“When they get out of jail, the issues that got them there still exist,” said Superior Court Judge Carl Biggs, who runs the DUI program at Harbor Justice.

Rehabilitation, he says, is “a better use of resources of the court.”

The DUI program is the second of its kind in California; the first was on a smaller scale in Butte City.

The program doesn’t focus on the basic legal guidelines of arresting offenders, locking them up and letting them out — it attacks the root of the problem.

“Many people have underlying problems of abuse or poor family history,” Biggs said. “This is a holistic approach. We are looking at the whole person.”

Offenders are interviewed, given a computer test and assessed for risk. Biggs, probation officers and workers at the Orange County Public Health Agency then make a decision on whether to accept the offender. There is a waiting list a month long and a class size, consistently, of 100 to 115.

The program tests for drugs and alcohol once a week by urine, swab or breath.

Offenders are subjected to surprise visits from probation officers and meet with officers once a week. They are involved in counseling programs with therapists, individually and in groups, and must be a part of Alcoholics Anonymous. In accordance with state and federal law, the program has a confidentiality agreement which keeps its clients anonymous.

“It’s hard to change when everyone around you is [drinking],” Biggs said. “We help with family issues, employment issues. The team is trying to help in whatever way they need. The goal is they never come back to the criminal justice system.”

And it seems to be working.

From Biggs’ graduating classes, only three have repeated their crimes.

As for the man with the .30 blood alcohol level? Fourteen months later he graduated from the Newport Beach program.

The program, while costly to provide, is affordable. It employs an income assessment group to tally the price tag per person. Biggs said that 70% to 80% of those who join the program graduate. He supports regular enforcement when it comes to first time offenders, but believes the system shouldn’t be one size fits all.

“Interesting thing about DUI is that it’s a big problem, and we can’t solve it with one solution,” Biggs said.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at [email protected].