Alcohol Ignition Interlocks

There is a pervasive perception that a proportion of offenders are unable to afford the cost of an ignition interlock, and it has been a major obstacle to the mandatory use of ignition interlocks in legislation, and the development of ignition interlock programs. [...] A critical step to begin to overcome the perception that cost is a barrier to participation in ignition interlock programs is to clearly define the standards that are used to determine whether cost is indeed a barrier to participation. [...] As such, the objectives of this paper are to more clearly define these program features to create a common understanding to facilitate discussion, and create a current snapshot of practices in the United States and the extent to which these features are actually used. [...] This definition of indigency, or a variation of it, is often transferred to the inability of offenders to afford interventions and/or other sanctions although the cost of legal counsel and the costs associated with interventions or supervision technologies are substantially different. [...] However, the proportion of offenders who are deemed indigent or unable to afford ignition interlock participation can substantially affect the ability of the state or of vendors to pay operational business costs or maintain or expand program services.