Although California's public inebriate project did not reduce criminal justice involvement in handling public inebriates, it did give positive direction for development of policies and programs.
The principal objectives were as follows: (1) reduce the visibility of public inebriates, (2) reduce their arrests, (3) reduce their involvement with the criminal justice system, and (4) increase their rehabilitation. A 24-hour Drop-In center, detoxification units, and recovery homes provided diversion of inebriates as an alternative to arrest. During the 2 years of the study, the number of public inebriates was more than double the estimates. The project admitted many public inebriates more than once. Many of these people entered treatment centers but did not successfully change their drinking behavior. Criminal justice involvement remained the same despite a decline in arrests. The project was unable to reduce visibility of the public inebriates. People who occasionally became drunk in public composed the majority of arrests, even though they were not the target group for the project. The presence of an authority figure is key to the project, and this would probably remain true despite decriminalization of the offense. Few of the public inebriates were interested in alcohol treatment services. Twenty-four tables and 28 references are provided.