During the last decade, several studies have documented the prevalence of alcohol, drug, and psychiatric disorders among women and men with DUIs and have found that DUI offenders more closely resemble a clinical than a population-based sample (Lapham et al., 2001). Female and male DUI offenders from court-referred screening (Lapham et al., 2001) and treatment programs (Laplante, Nelson, Odegaard, Labrie, & Shaffer, 2008; Lapham, C’de Baca, McMillan, & Lapidus, 2006) have high rates of alcohol and drug use disorders. In a sample of first-time DUI offenders, 85% of women and 91% of men met lifetime criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence five years after participation in a screening program for alcohol problems (Lapham et al., 2001), and co-occurring drug and psychiatric disorders were common. Of those with an alcohol use disorder, 37% of women and 42% of men also met lifetime criteria for drug abuse or dependence, and 50% of women and 33% of men met criteria for a non-substance psychiatric disorder (Lapham et al., 2001).
