Skip to section navigation
Skip to page content

24/7 Publications

Featured Research

An Individual-Level Evaluation of 24/7 Sobriety
24/7 Sobriety combines frequent alcohol testing with swift, certain, and modest sanctions for those who test positive for alcohol or miss a test. Using an instrumental variables approach, the study finds 24/7 reduced the probability a participant was rearrested or had probation revoked at 12 months by 49% (p=0.002).

Featured Publications

Association of an Alcohol Abstinence Program With Mortality in Individuals Arrested for Driving While Alcohol Impaired

Mar 2, 2023

Individual-level analysis finds that among those arrested for driving under the influence, participation in 24/7 Sobriety reduces risk of death during study period—on the order of 50 percent.

Nancy Nicosia, Beau Kilmer, Gregory Midgette, Marika Booth
Can Novel 'Swift-Certain-Fair' Programs Work Outside of Pioneering Jurisdictions? An Analysis of 24/7 Sobriety in Montana, USA

Jul 20, 2021

South Dakota USA's 24/7 Sobriety Program appears to work in Montana as well. Certain delivery of immediate but modest sanctions for repeat driving under the influence (DUI) arrestees who violate alcohol abstinence orders appears to be able to reduce future DUI arrests.

Gregory Midgette, Beau Kilmer
Criminal Deterrence: Evidence From an Individual-Level Analysis of 24/7 Sobriety

May 7, 2020

This paper provides policymakers with evidence for a new approach to reduce criminal activity among those whose alcohol use leads them to repeatedly threaten public health and safety.

Beau Kilmer, Gregory Midgette
A Natural Experiment to Test the Effect of Sanction Certainty and Celerity on Substance-Impaired Driving: North Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Program

May 7, 2020

Over half of participants ordered to abstain from substance use complete 24/7 Sobriety without a detected substance use event. At the county level, the program is associated with a 9% reduction in substance-impaired driving arrests.

Gregory Midgette, Beau Kilmer, Nancy Nicosia, Paul Heaton
Can a Criminal Justice Alcohol Abstention Programme with Swift, Certain, and Modest Sanctions (24/7 Sobriety) Reduce Population Mortality? A Retrospective Observational Study

Feb 18, 2016

In this study we examine whether the 24/7 Sobriety programme in South Dakota, USA—the largest such programme to date—is associated with reductions in mortality.

Nancy Nicosia, Beau Kilmer, Paul Heaton
The Effect of Montana's 24/7 Sobriety Program on DUI Re-arrest: Insights from a Natural Experiment with Limited Administrative Data

Mar 5, 2015

Examines the effect of participation in Montana's sobriety program on the probability of DUI re-arrest for participants within twelve months of their second arrest date.

Gregory Midgette, Beau Kilmer
Response to Stephanie A. Duriez, Francis T. Cullen, and Sarah M. Manchak: Theory and Evidence on the Swift-Certain-Fair Approach to Enforcing Conditions of Community Supervision

Apr 22, 2015

Swift-certain-fair sanctioning helps enforce the conditions of community corrections by substituting swiftness and certainty for severity and by increasing the predictability and perceived fairness of the process from the offender's viewpoint.

Mark A. R. Kleiman, Beau Kilmer, Daniel T. Fisher
Losing Your "License to Drink": The Radical South Dakota Approach to Heavy Drinkers Who Threaten Public Safety

Jan 1, 2013

In 2005, the state of South Dakota introduced an innovative approach to reduce problem drinking. Known as the 24/7 Sobriety Project. The program requires individuals arrested for or convicted of alcohol-involved offenses to submit to breathalyzer tests twice per day or wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet at all times.

Beau Kilmer, Keith Humphreys
Efficacy of Frequent Monitoring with Swift, Certain, and Modest Sanctions for Violations: Insights from South Dakota 24/7 Sobriety Project

Dec 6, 2012

In community supervision settings, frequent alcohol testing with swift, certain, and modest sanctions for violations can reduce problem drinking and improve public health outcomes.

Beau Kilmer, Nancy Nicosia, Paul Heaton, Gregory Midgette
An Innovative Way to Curb Problem Drinking: South Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Project

Dec 12, 2012

South Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Project, in which individuals with alcohol-involved offenses submit to breathalyzer tests twice per day or wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet at all times, reduced repeat DUI arrests at the county level by 12 percent.

Beau Kilmer, Nancy Nicosia, Paul Heaton, Gregory Midgette
The Dynamics of Deterrence

Jan 1, 2009

Game theory and other simulations show that, if potential criminal offenders are sufficiently deterrable, increasing the conditional probability of punishment (given violation) can reduce the amount of punishment actually inflicted, by "tipping" a situation from its high-violation equilibrium to its low-violation equilibrium.

Mark A. R. Kleiman, Beau Kilmer

Commentary