The recidivism rates for first-time high-BAC offenders arrested in 1998 were consistently about 2 percentage points lower than for the “comparison” group of offenders with BACs .17-.19 (Table 11). Differences in the rates of recidivism after one year were 8.0 percent for BACs .17-.19 vs. 6.3 percent for high-BACs (X2 = 9.3, df = 1, p = .001) and after two years were 14.2 percent for BACs .17-.19 vs. 12.6 percent for high-BACs (X2 = 4.5, df = 1, p = .03).
The rates of recidivism among repeat offenders arrested in 1998 with BACs > .20 and those with BACs .17-.19 were generally comparable (Table 11). Neither the recidivism rates after one year (6.8 percent for both groups) nor the rates after two years (14.4 percent for BACs .17-.19 vs. 14.4 percent for BACs > .20) were statistically significant.
|
First-Time Offenders |
Repeat Offenders |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
BAC .17-.19 |
BAC > .20 |
BAC .17-.19 |
BAC > .20 |
||
| Total Cases (N) |
(4,058) |
(4,056) |
(1,389) |
(1,814) |
|
|
Months Elapsed since Arrest |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
|
3 |
2.4 |
1.8 |
1.7 |
2.6 |
|
|
6 |
4.3 |
3.4 |
3.3 |
4.1 |
|
|
9 |
6.2 |
4.7 |
5.0 |
5.6 |
|
|
12 |
8.0 |
6.3 |
6.8 |
6.8 |
|
|
15 |
9.7 |
7.8 |
8.9 |
8.5 |
|
|
18 |
11.4 |
9.6 |
10.5 |
10.0 |
|
|
21 |
12.8 |
11.1 |
12.1 |
11.9 |
|
|
24 |
14.2 |
12.6 |
14.4 |
14.1 |
|
By the end of the first year following arrest, recidivism among high-BAC first-time offenders arrested in 1999 (6.7 percent) was lower than recidivism among first-time offenders with BACs .17-.19 (7.8 percent) (Table not shown). This difference was marginally significant (X2 = 3.89, df = 1, p = .05). For repeat offenders arrested in 1999, high-BAC offenders had a slightly lower recidivism rate than offenders with BACs .17-.19 after one year (7.2 percent vs. 7.7 percent). This difference was not statistically significant.