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97 Colum. L. Rev. 437 (1997)
Alcoholics Anonymous as a Condition of Drunk Driving Probation: When Does It Amount to Establishment of Religion

handle is hein.journals/clr97 and id is 469 raw text is: NOTES ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS AS A CONDITION OF DRUNK DRIVING PROBATION: WHEN DOES IT AMOUNT TO ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION? Michael G. Honeymar, Jr. For nearly two decades state legislatures have been wrestling with the problem of drunk driving. In an effort to attack this problem at its core, most drunk driving legislation currently in effect contains educational and reha- bilitation requirements, and many driving while intoxicated (DW) offenders are sentenced to probation rather than incarceration. As part of their proba- tionary conditions, DW offenders are often directed to participate in alcohol- related self-help programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Requiring AA as a probationary condition for DWI offenses, however, raises serious constitutional issues under the First Amendment's Establishment Clause be- cause the AA program of recovery is religiously oriented. This Note contends that compulsory AA as a condition of drunk driving probation violates the Establishment Clause. What this Note views as the more complex issue, how- ever, is what exactly amounts to compulsory AA. After surveying the rele- vant case law, this Note presents a nonexhaustive list offactors courts might examine in the course of addressing this inquiry. A review of AA's approach to rehabilitation, leads the author to con- clude that AA qualifies as a religious program for purposes of the Establishment Clause. The author also argues that the applicable case law indicates that an Establishment Clause violation will only be found where the probationer has been denied the freedom to choose between religious and nonreligious support programs. To prevent state authorities charged with formulating DWJ probationary conditions from committing future Establishment Clause violations, the author recommends legislative or ad- ministrative guidelines similar to California's administrative scheme designed to guarantee state compliance with the Establishment Clause. Such guidelines would both safeguard probationers' constitutional rights and pro- tect state probation authorities from potential liability. INTRODUCTION In response to a rising tide of public concern, the legislatures of all fifty states enacted or reinforced a total of 500 driving while intoxicated (DWI)' laws in the early 1980s.2 A major and nearly universal compo- 1. As used throughout this Note, the abbreviation DWI represents the crime of driving while intoxicated or driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol. 2. See Theodore A. Bruce & Patricia R. Bruce, The Legislative Response to the Drunk Driving Dilemma: An Empirical Analysis of Its Success and Failure, 33 St. Louis U. LJ. 177, 177 (1988). Since the states' crackdown on drunk driving, the number of people arrested

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