Research regarding the risk assessment of impaired drivers has grown in the past decade. In conjunction with this, demand for knowledge has increased as agencies seek to better utilize limited resources to effectively manage this population. Thus it is timely to take stock of available research and knowledge about this problem and current practices that are applied to impaired drivers in Canada in the administrative driver licencing and criminal justice systems in order to gauge the extent to which current research is being put into practice. Such efforts are instructive to measure success as well as to help identify future research needs and the development of effective strategies. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of risk assessment practices in Canada that pertain to impaired drivers, and to provide a snapshot of the practices used by driver licencing and justice practitioners. Its goals are to summarize current risk assessment practices and to describe the different ways that impaired drivers are assessed for risk in remedial impaired driver programs in the driver licencing system and also in the criminal justice system. The report concludes with some recommendations that can help to further inform and/or guide any future efforts to develop or improve best practices related to risk assessment in both systems. This report provides answers to the following questions: - What practices are applied to assess impaired drivers in remedial programs? - What practices are applied to assess impaired drivers in the criminal justice system? - What opportunities exist to strengthen risk assessment practices in Canada? The contents of this report are based upon: - Focus groups involving 28 remedial impaired driver program practitioners and criminal justice professionals in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia; - Conference calls with a judge and a probation officer in the Yukon and Northwest Territories; and - A survey of 65 justice professionals (Crown attorneys, defence attorneys and probation officers) representing six jurisdictions that responded to the survey (Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, British Columbia and Ontario). Locations for focus groups were determined based on regional representation, size and availability. Participants in the focus groups were selected by key remedial impaired driver agencies in each jurisdiction in order to provide a sufficient cross-section of management and frontline staff as well as a sufficient cross-section of levels of experience across practitioners. A range of key issues was explored with participants in the focus groups to gain a better understanding of the overall delivery of relevant programs and services and the use of risk assessment within them. These topics were determined based upon best practice literature pertaining to remedial programs. Topics were also selected based on the range of operational practices typically associated with the delivery of assessments and remedial impaired driver programs and services. The survey was similarly constructed, based upon past experiences surveying criminal justice practitioners as well as input from legal professionals. It was disseminated through key contacts in the field in several jurisdictions. It should be noted that this research was designed as a largely qualitative study and participants in the focus groups and the survey were selected as a result of a snowball sample (Goodman 1961; Becker 1970). Of interest, this report is also accompanied by a companion piece designed for frontline practitioners that summarizes the research literature pertaining to: -the profile and characteristics of male and female impaired drivers; -risk factors for male and female impaired drivers; - risk assessment instruments; - effective treatment interventions; -best practices for the treatment and rehabilitation of impaired driving offenders; and - research gaps and future needs. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting