162714 Development of a court-based program to combat underage drinking and driving

Wednesday, November 7, 2007: 9:42 AM

Cynthia S. Sabo, MS , Center for Pediatric Research, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA
Kelli England Will, PhD , Center for Pediatric Research, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA
A unique court-based program implemented by judges was created to decrease underage drinking and driving among teens in Virginia's courtrooms. Since judges have a major influence on teenagers, but little time to put together a program that includes alcohol prevention components, an advisory board consisting of program staff, judges, school personnel, and police worked together to create a user-friendly program tailored to local and judicial needs. The court-based aspects of the program included changes to the drivers' licensing ceremonies and traffic dockets conducted in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts. A unique aspect of Virginia law is that every teen and their parent must appear before a judge in person to receive his or her drivers' license, providing an ideal opportunity to deliver alcohol prevention messaging. Important additions to the ceremonies and traffic dockets included (a) powerful 5-minute videos that gave testimonials of individuals who were involved in alcohol-related crashes (including victims and convicted drunk drivers); and (b) the use of technology (including electronic messaging boards and crash photo computer displays) to provide preventive messaging and information to families awaiting the beginning of the licensing ceremony or traffic docket. Following the judges' implementation of the program, evaluations were completed by 593 adolescents. Results indicated that 85% of teens felt every teen should view the presentation and 94% of teens stated they would be unlikely to operate a vehicle after consuming alcohol. The program is now packaged in an easily disseminated toolkit and ready for use by other districts.

Learning Objectives:
1. Identify ways to partner with area judges in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts to deliver preventive programming to youth in their courtrooms. 2. Discuss the value of convening an advisory board to tailor intervention programs to the needs of their local Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts. 3. Discuss ways to develop an alcohol prevention program within your local Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts to decrease drinking and driving among teenagers.

Keywords: Alcohol, Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.