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The Effect of Montana's 24/7 Sobriety Program on DUI Re-arrest Insights from a Natural Experiment with Limited Administrative Data

"Alcohol imposes significant social costs on the residents of Montana. The state has one of the highest alcohol-related traffic fatality rates in the nation, and alcohol accounts for more than one-eighth of deaths among working aged adults statewide. 24/7 Sobriety requires alcohol-involved offenders to abstain from alcohol and submit to frequent alcohol testing; those failing or missing a test face an immediate, but brief, jail term" (p. 1). This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the 24/7 Sobriety program. 24/7 uses a preliminary breath test (PBT) twice per day immediately on release into the community. Participation in the 24/7 Sobriety program reduced the possibility of DUI re-arrest by approximately 58%.