Earlier today, the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking issued its annual report on progress the industry is making to reduce the misuse of alcohol globally. The full report is available here: http://www.iard.org/. We’re not covering that report because, frankly, as an American news operation we really don’t care what they are doing in Europe, Africa or Asia.
But we do care about what is happening in the U.S., where Beam Suntory is a founding sponsor of National Center for DWI Courts, a non-profit organization leading the expansion of DWI courts in the United States. Beam Suntory helps the group provide training and technical assistance to new and operational DWI courts, disseminate research and best practices and advocate for evidence-based interventions for impaired driving.
In 2016 alone, NCDC trained 80 courts, adding more than 500 practitioners trained in 21 states on evidence-based best practices to reduce recidivism in the most dangerous repeat DWI offenders. Since NCDC’s founding in 2007, DWI courts have expanded more than 52 percent to include more than 700 courts in 44 states.
Repeat offenders are responsible for the vast majority of fatal crashes on American roadways. DWI courts hold these offenders strictly accountable, with close supervision and connections to treatment services for underlying alcohol use or mental health disorders. DWI courts reduce recidivism by as much as 60 percent and DWI offenders who complete the program are as much as 19 times less likely to reoffend compared to offenders in the traditional system.
“As a result of Beam Suntory’s longstanding commitment to combatting the deadly effects of impaired driving, the DWI court model has seen explosive growth in the United States,” said Carson Fox, CEO of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, the parent organization to NCDC. “Our continued partnership has given us the resources to aggressively expand the DWI court model and connect more Americans with alcohol disorders to treatment, allowing them to become productive citizens and make our roads safer.”