This study was conducted to determine whether offender classifications, or subtypes, assigned at screening could be used to foretell treatment utilization and 15-year drinking and driving outcomes among offenders with a SUD. This information could influence the development of more utilitarian methods to classify a given offender population. Researchers have explored the possibility that offenders could be divided into meaningful subgroups.11-14 This research points to a need to provide a wider range of treatment options to offenders. However, these subgroups are difficult to define within the context of a brief screening process. As suggested by La Brie and his colleagues,15 it is time to revisit the utility of using typologies to stimulate the development of new policies and practices for dealing with DWI offenders. In a previous study of a DWI first offender population referred for screening in New Mexico, we identified groups of offenders at high risk of recidivism, 4 years following a first DWI offense.16 The present study followed offenders for 15 years after a court-mandated screening referral for a first DWI offense. Offenders selected for study reported
