Long-term effectiveness of the alcohol ignition interlock programme: A retrospective cohort study in the Netherlands

Abstract

This article provides an evaluation of the long-term effectiveness of the Alcohol Ignition Interlock Programme (AIIP) on recidivism. A retrospective cohort design was used to compare the known reoffending behaviour of 1676 AIIP participants with that of 907 persons in a control group, consisting of offenders who committed an AIIP-worthy driving-under-the-influence (DUI) offence that was not reported to the Dutch driving license authority. Persons in the control group were not sanctioned with an AIIP, but had their case settled in the criminal court. Our outcome measure was the percentage of offenders who committed at least one new DUI offence within the follow-up period. Results indicate that the percentage of repeat offenders in the AIIP group was lower than in the control group. Additional analyses indicate that were an AIIP to be imposed alongside a criminal settlement, a recidivism reduction of 4 percentage points (4 % versus 8 %) could be expected. This would translate to a relative decrease of 54 %. Explanations for these findings are discussed.