Incarceration in the county jail offers no rehabilitative benefit for the DUI offender. Unfortunately, some people have addiction problems to alcohol that are simply not addressed with being punished by incarceration. A large number of people get into serious trouble because of their drinking. Currently, nearly 14 million Americans–1 in every 13 adults–abuse alcohol or are alcoholic. Several million more adults engage in risky drinking that could lead to alcohol problems. These patterns include binge drinking and heavy drinking on a regular basis. In addition, 53 percent of men and women in the United States report that one or more of their close relatives have a drinking problem.

As a result of the widespread problem of alcohol-abuse, there has been an enormous change in how addicts and alcoholics are regarded by the court system. It is ineffective to simply lock away addicts and alcoholics without treating the underlying addiction issues. Instead judges and prosecutors want substance abusers to stop using in order to lessen the risk of recidivism. Therefore, the alternative to incarceration is treatment in an established and state licensed drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

There are many different types of rehab available, for both men and women, separately or together. Most rehabs are private and can be very expensive. Sometimes there are waiting lists for an available bed. The length of treatment varies, but the average time is 30 days. Treatment may include behavior modification and/or medication. Three commonly used behavioral treatments for alcohol abuse and alcoholism–motivation enhancement therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and 12-step facilitation therapy–significantly reduced drinking in the year following treatment. Medication such as naltrexone (ReVia™), an anti-craving medication, has been shown to be effective, especially when combined with behavior therapy.

Alcohol and drug rehabs can be used to replace the alcohol education programs that are instituted as part of the DUI conviction. California Vehicle Code section 23598 states that in lieu of an alcohol or drug education program, the court may impose a live-in alcohol treatment term of probation instead. The court will impose that the DUI offender complete such a program so long as the person consents and has been accepted into that program. The type of proof that is required is a certification, made under penalty of perjury, by the director of the program. The time spent in rehabilitation is counted against the time that would otherwise have been spent incarcerated in a county jail. This is referred to as good time custody credits.

According to the survey conducted by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the rates of adolescent victimization are high. This survey has been conducted on the basis of past 10 years which confirms the high prevalence rate of victimization and violence among adolescents considering the number of large adolescent and general population studies. Department of Justice in U.S (2002) reported that the violent crime rate for adolescents of 16 to 19 years of age was double of the rate of individuals of age group 25 to 34. In order to develop the instrumental form of educational system promoting the intervening strategy, the relevant methodologies addressing the individual needs for counselling and education for the adolescents suffered from victimization need to be developed. One of the most essential ingredients incorporating the research includes concept mapping in order to promote the development and enhancement of multiple types of learning and thinking. It is effective by means of aiding summarization of ideas along with taking important notes and then translation of those documents into reflective thinking. The other essential ingredient of concept mapping comprises the idea of brainstorming support in which an individual is directed towards a proper direction with an ability to generate newer ideas by means of developing new format of concept mapping. According to the prospective, longitudinal survey conducted by National Youth Survey (NYS), the samples taken are as follows: Americans of age group 11 years to 17 years at the year 1976 (the first collected data), and the same sample of age group 27 years to 33 years at the year 1992 (the last collected data). The survey has been conducted into nine waves or interview cycles, among which the waves numbered from 1 to 5 had been collected annually during 1976-1980. Since 1980, the survey has been conducted with an interval of three years.