Although alcoholism treatment makes drunk driving offenders less likely to relapse, only about 2 percent of deferred prosecutions involve medical intervention, Taiwan Against Drunk Driving said yesterday.
Harsher penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol imposed over the past few years have proved effective at reducing cases, but issues with recidivism remain, the group told a news conference in Taipei announcing the winners of its research award.
Last year, 46,640 people were prosecuted for drunk driving, down from 74,635 in 2018, group chairman Chen Chiao-chicy (陳喬琪) said, citing Ministry of Justice data.
Photo: CNA
About 40 percent of them were repeat offenders, Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed.
As research shows that about 70 percent of repeat offenders have problems with alcohol addiction, prosecutors have been encouraged to refer offenders to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, group vice chairman Hsu Li-min (許立民) said.
The effectiveness of this strategy is borne out by the evidence, Hsu said.
Cheng Wan-ju (鄭婉汝), a psychiatrist at China Medical University Hospital who won first prize for her paper on post-intervention recidivism among drunk drivers, found a correlation between treatment length and recidivism.
In the study, Cheng found that participants who received treatment for more than four months had a three-times lower recidivism rate than those who received treatment for only four months.
Participants who stayed in treatment longer also showed better psychological symptoms and drinking behavior in the year following their intervention, the study found.
People drink and drive for any number of reasons, but reducing recidivism among drivers with alcoholism is the most worthwhile prevention effort, Cheng told the news conference.
While strict penalties are effective, if offenders are not treated following incarceration, their medical condition might lead them on the path to reoffending, she said, recommending at least one year of treatment and at least four months mandated by the courts.
However, the rate of referral for treatment is extremely low, as it increases the administrative burden on prosecutors, Hsu said.
Of the 11,501 offenders granted deferred prosecution last year, only 90, or 0.8 percent, were referred for treatment, he said.
In the first five months of this year, the share rose to 2.1 percent, or 108 people out of 5,094, but the rate is still very low, he said.
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