SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT-Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Intervention Program

Social Service

Juvenile Probation and Court Services

SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT
Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Intervention Program

The Social Service Department is the designated agency in the Circuit Court of Cook County to supervise and provide intervention and services to offenders who are found guilty of driving under the influence (DUI). Each offender is evaluated to determine his or her level of risk to the community based on prior driving records, criminal histories and life situations. The Department monitors DUI offenders through appropriate substance abuse treatment and provides correctional intervention for issues of mental health and criminogenic needs (e.g. unemployment, negative attitudes). The Department also addresses the behavior of individuals who have criminal records prior to their DUI charge. The offender's profile designates the frequency of contact.

Program Goals
The Social Service Department recognizes that driving under the influence is a serious offense and may be an indication of a significant alcohol or drug problem. The Department's goal in providing services is to facilitate awareness on the part of the offender so that he or she recognizes the consequences of drinking and driving and accordingly does not drink and drive. The actual period of time a DUI offender remains under the supervision of the court through the Social Service Department extends beyond the treatment provided by a primary service provider. It is therefore important that staff assigned to work with these offenders be skilled caseworkers with specific interest and training to work with substance users and abusers.

As the court's agent in supervising the order of supervision or the sentence of conditional discharge, the Social Service Department is concerned with both community safety and the rehabilitation of the offender, with both the rights of the victims and the rights of the offender, and with both the enforcement of court sanctions and the establishment of a positive casework relationship with the offender. The Department integrates these polarities in providing service, focusing on the offender in the context of his or her community.

The Social Service Department supports the court's point of view that court intervention can and does have therapeutic value for DUI as well an non-DUI offenders. Court intervention with the DUI offender is essential for long term and effective containment of the problem of drinking and driving.

Court Ordered and Mandated Community Service
In addition to the court ordered condition for alcohol/drug treatment, DUI offenders are often ordered to perform a designated number of days/hours of community service. Some community service is mandated by state law. For example, any offender convicted of a second DUI must perform a minimum of 100 hours of community service or serve two (2) days in jail. Other DUI offenders are ordered to perform community service at the discretion of the court. DUI offenders mandated by law to perform community service comply with the condition usually under the direct supervision of the Cook County Sheriff's Work Alternative Program (SWAP). Other offenders are placed at public or not-for-profit resource sites through the Social Service Department's Community Service Program. Pursuant to Circuit Court Rule (11.4), all orders for community service in these cases are processed through Social Service and directed by the Department to the designated community service program.

Criminal and Driving Record Investigations
Casework staff have immediate and on-site access to various computerized arrest information systems to aid them in obtaining an offender's criminal and driving histories as well as information regarding any new arrests that might occur while the offender is under the Department's supervision. As a result of a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Social Service Department was able to obtain computer equipment and direct linkage to the Illinois Secretary of State's automated data system. This enables a caseworker to secure a current copy of an offender's driving record (i.e. driver's abstract) at any point during the offender's supervision. Other automated, on-site systems include the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS), which provides criminal record information, and the Circuit Court Clerk's Information System (CIS), which supplies current information on both criminal and traffic cases pending and/or disposed of in Cook County.

Violation of Sentencing Order
Should any offender fail to comply with the order for treatment or violate any other conditions of the order of supervision or conditional discharge, the Social Service Department is required by Circuit Court Rule to report any violation of the sentencing order or of any requirement of the Social Service Department to the prosecuting authority as soon as discovered or no later than 30 days prior to the date of termination (Circuit Court Rule 11.6[c]).