US: WI: Waukesha judge proposes alcohol monitoring in family court cases

Link:http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/69626937.html
By Laurel Walker
Waukesha - Technology that helps keep tabs on alcohol abusers who've been ordered by a court to stay sober could soon help Waukesha County judges decide child visitation and custody issues.

Judge Kathryn Foster, a leader in developing the state's first Alcohol Treatment Court in Waukesha County three years ago, is now taking what she learned there into family court.

In a demonstration for family lawyers and court staff last week, Foster and others who apply the technology described how leg bracelets that monitor alcohol use by measuring the vapors released through skin could also be used to verify claims about alcohol abuse by parents in custody disputes.

Foster has already put the monitoring system to work in one ongoing test case in which a father volunteered for 30 days of monitoring to counter his ex-wife's accusations about his drinking.

The device is known as SCRAM, for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring. Wearers must regularly attach the $1,400 monitor to a telephone line and modem so its data can be downloaded, transmitted, read and analyzed. It can identify how much was consumed and when.

Alcohol often is an issue in divorce and custody cases, Foster said.

She said SCRAM could help in family court in several ways. It can identify parents who are problem drinkers and who shouldn't have placement of their kids if they're drinking, therefore aiding the children's safety.

It can get to the truth of claims that one parent is drinking. In doing so, it allows the judge to maximize placement with parents who under ideal circumstances should each get equal time with their kids, she said.

It can keep kids out of the middle of such disputes, too.

"We don't like children to be interrogated by the non-drinking parent and to be the reporting person," Foster said.

SCRAM already is used almost exclusively in criminal matters in about 10 or 15 Wisconsin counties, including Waukesha, Racine, Milwaukee, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Ozaukee.

Waukesha County, for example, uses SCRAM in combination with treatment programs in its Alcohol Treatment Court for third-time drunken drivers who otherwise would be serving jail time. It is also heavily used in intoxicated driver intervention programs to ensure sobriety before an accused offender's case goes to court. Some judges and sheriffs use the monitors to supervise prisoners as a condition of early release from jail.

Sara Carpenter, court service administrator with Wisconsin Community Services, which monitors SCRAM users in five southeastern counties, said about 2,500 people have been tracked on SCRAM since 2005 and it has proved effective.

Individual users are assessed the cost, from $50 to $100 for installation depending on whether it's for 30 or 60 days, and $12.50 to $15 a day for use. In a divorce or paternity case in which someone is falsely accused of alcohol abuse, the cost could be passed on to the other party, Foster said.

Terry Fain of Colorado-based Alcohol Monitoring Systems Inc., which provides the bracelets, analyzes the individuals' SCRAM data and reports results back to local agencies and courts, said 105,000 people in 47 states have been monitored on the device since 1993.

Most have been in criminal matters, he said.

Fain said he's not seen SCRAM applied before as Foster is proposing.

"What she's trying to do in creating an institutional program of alcohol monitoring in a family court system is very unique," he said.

Several lawyers volunteered to work with Foster in establishing a family court protocol for SCRAM use. Foster said that other Waukesha County family court judges indicated a willingness to use the tool, as well.