Nationwide Drop in Alcohol-Related Driving Fatalities Demonstrates Progress in the Fight Against Drunk Driving

/PRNewswire/ -- Diageo, the world's leading spirits, wine and beer company and an industry leader in promoting responsible drinking, applauds the efforts that contributed to a 7.4% decline in alcohol-related driving fatalities in 2009. This data, reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), found that 33 states and Puerto Rico experienced a decline in the number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in 2009 compared to 2008. Nevertheless, Diageo believes more must be done to reduce alcohol-related fatalities.

"This data shows that significant progress is being made in the fight against drunk driving, and that strong anti-drunk driving enforcement campaigns are having a positive effect. But the reality is that the fight is far from over," said Guy L. Smith, Executive Vice President of Diageo, North America. "Diageo has a zero tolerance policy toward drunk driving, and we call upon elected officials across the country to pass meaningful legislation that enforces more severe penalties for hardcore and repeat drunk drivers."

Research shows that there is one group of drunk driving offenders that should be the focus of efforts to combat alcohol-related fatalities: hardcore drunk drivers, repeat offenders and those who drive with a high blood alcohol concentration of .15 or above. Hardcore drunk drivers are responsible for approximately 63 percent of alcohol-related traffic fatalities, according to the NHTSA.

Smith continued, "States must enact proven and effective comprehensive legislation that targets these offenders, and we are ready, willing and able to work with state legislatures to pass appropriate laws." He noted that Diageo has a strong record of supporting measures that combat hardcore drunk driving and is working to encourage that laws are passed in many states that do not have comprehensive drunk driving programs in place.

Diageo is a founding member and major supporter of The Century Council, an organization funded by some of the country's leading distillers committed to developing programs to combat drunk driving and underage drinking. These programs include 'Combating Drunk Driving Judicial Education' and 'Girl Talk.' The Century Council also works with a broad array of education and prevention professionals on alcohol issues. In addition, Diageo is an active supporter of the Federal Trade Commission's anti-underage drinking campaign, 'We Don't Serve Teens'.

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Poll Finds Strong Support Across Racial and Ideological Lines for Improving Rehabilitation Services for Prisoners and Ex-Offenders

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A recent poll has found that Americans across the country and in Georgia overwhelmingly support providing progressive rehabilitation and education services for inmates and ex-offenders recently released from prison, underscoring that the nation appears ready to shift criminal justice policies away from mass incarceration, which has not been making communities safer.

Seventy-two percent of respondents nationally and 86 percent of those in Georgia said they are concerned about crime in their community, according to the poll conducted in December 2008 by Zogby International for Community Voices at Morehouse School of Medicine. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of respondents said it is "very important" to improve access to job training, drug treatment, mental health care, mentoring and family assistance before and after inmates are released.

"The poll results strongly indicate that Americans have determined that mass incarceration of criminals, a policy that has been in existence since the 1960s, is not making their neighborhoods safer," said Dr. Henrie Treadwell, director of the Community Voices program. "The nation is crying out for a new policy that rehabilitates criminals and better prepares them to be productive when they are released."

Dr. Treadwell noted that largely because of tougher sentencing, particularly for drug convictions, the incarceration rate in the United States is the highest in the world at 715 inmates per 100,000 residents, far outdistancing the Russians, who are second at 584 per 100,000.

"Communities recognize that the mass incarceration policy needs to be replaced with a mass rehabilitation policy," Dr. Treadwell said. "Our neighborhoods need better health, education, job training and counseling services for inmates that are returning to their communities."

Among the poll results indicating that Americans want to move in that direction:

-- 70 percent of the national respondents and 69 percent of Georgians
said they would rather see additional state money spent on treatment
programs and other services for ex-offenders than on constructing new
prisons.
-- 93 percent nationally and 91 percent in Georgia said that former
felons should be provided with job training.
-- Overwhelming percentages supported providing student loans (80 percent
nationally, 78 percent Georgia), public housing (79 percent
nationally, 73 percent Georgia) and medical services (88 percent
nationally, 84 percent Georgia).


The poll findings cut across ideological lines. Of the 1,039 people interviewed nationally, only 20 percent identified themselves as liberals, while the remainder were moderate (27 percent), conservative (33 percent), very conservative (8 percent) or non-ideological (12 percent). Strong agreement across racial-ethnic lines was found in a national sample that was 74 percent white, 13 percent African-American and 9 percent Hispanic.

"Clearly, Americans are looking for public policies that make communities safer and don't just lock people up to make them more hardened criminals when they are released," Dr. Treadwell said. "We have new leadership in Washington. Hopefully, ending mass incarceration and vastly improving rehabilitation services will be a critical part of the 'change' agenda."

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