"I'll Just Do My Time": The Role of Motivation in the Rejection of the DWI Court Model

Authors

Deborah A. Eckberg, Metropolitan State UniversityFollow
David Squier Jones, Metropolitan State University

Abstract

In the last decade, driving while intoxicated (DWI) courts based on the therapeutic court model have proliferated. Although the typical DWI court program allows offenders with multiple DWI offenses to avoid jail time and get their drivers’ licenses back sooner, not all offenders who are offered the opportunity to participate in DWI court choose to take advantage of it. Others try but drop out of the program early on. We conducted qualitative interviews with twelve people who were offered the opportunity to participate in an urban DWI court in a Midwestern county between 2007 and 2010, but who either chose not to participate or who tried but did not succeed in the program. The authors point to the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in order to explain the findings and ultimately inform practitioner methods for engaging potential DWI court clients and enhancing success rates.

Keywords

Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)/Driving Under the Influence (DUI), Court, Motivation, Interviews

Author Bio(s)

Deborah A. Eckberg, Associate Professor, School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to Deborah A. Eckberg, Ph.D., School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University, 9110 Brooklyn Boulevard, Brooklyn Park, MN 55445. (763) 657-3758 (office), deborah.eckberg@metrostate.edu

David Squier Jones, Master of Science in Criminal Justice, School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University.

Publication Date

1-26-2015

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2015.1959

Recommended APA Citation

Eckberg, D. A., & Jones, D. S. (2015). "I'll Just Do My Time": The Role of Motivation in the Rejection of the DWI Court Model. The Qualitative Report, 20(1), 130-147. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.1959