“Alcoholics Anonymous as a Mutual-Help Movement: A Study in Eight Societies” University of Wisconsin Press, 1996

"Indispensable for anyone trying to understand AA at the end of the twentieth century."                        - Harry G. Levine, Queens College, City University of New York.

Though published 21 years ago, this international collaborative study of A.A. at locations in the USA, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Mexico, is still relevant for anyone trying to understand A.A. in the 21^st century. For any A.A. member wishing to understand the 60 years of history that has passed since A.A. published Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, this study will also provide some useful insight into the spread and development of the fellowship alongside what is termed "Institutional 12-Step Treatment" during in this period.

See also: “DIVERSITY IN UNITY: Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous in Eight Societies”  http://www.nordicwelfare.org/PageFiles/5230/33publikation.pdf

Given the widespread deviations from A.A. Traditions observed, the separatist movement in Mexico, and the large number of A.A. members, old and new, who are now leaving A.A., these studies could also be aptly titled “DISUNITY IN DIVERSITY: Studies of Alcoholics Anonymous in Eight Societies.”

Extract from "Alcoholics Anonymous as a Mutual-help Movement: A Study in Eight Societies"        p. 193:

“In recent years, however, the relation of AA to the criminal justice system has substantially changed in the United States. It is now common practice in many parts of the United States for the judge to require attendance at AA meetings as part of the sentence for drunk driving or other criminal offenses. To verify attendance, the secretary of the AA meeting signs or initials the “court card” carried by the probationer. The practice appears to have started in the late 1960s in southern California, at the initiative of enthusiastic judges and with considerable doubt among old-timers in AA, but the practice is now so widespread in the United States that it is taken for granted. Discussions continue, though, about the difficulties this new form of association with the criminal justice system has caused for AA’s functioning.

    Of our study sites, it is only in the United States that the formal practice of “court-carding” has taken root. In a less formal style, however, the criminal court process in Mexico and Sweden also encourages affiliation with AA, and holds out the prospect that this liaison will secure more lenient handling in the courts. In future years, AA may come under pressure in a wider variety of countries to serve a formal social control function on behalf of the criminal justice system.
   The issue of compulsion is not limited to the criminal justice system. Mandatory treatment is increasingly prescribed not only because of homelessness or public deviance but also because of insufficient work performance or family problems (Takala, Klingemann, & Hunt, 1992), which means that it is spreading to new groups of the population. In the United States, for instance, employers sometimes request AA meeting attendance of their employees.”

If you are an A.A. member, you might ask yourself this question: Do you, or does your A.A. group, contrary to A.A. Traditions, Five and Six, serve a formal social control function on behalf of the criminal justice system? or employers? 

For information on the difficulties this new form of association with the criminal justice system has caused for A.A.’s functioning see:

“A Report on the Status of Cooperation with Courts in the Mid-Michigan Area and AA as a Whole”  

“Synanon Cult Influence on Alcoholics Anonymous, Addiction Treatment and the Criminal Justice System 1968-2017”

“Resisting 12-Step Coercion: How to Fight Forced Participation in AA, NA, or 12-Step Treatment”

leavingaa.com

‘Confirmation of Attendance’ or ‘chit’ system

 ‘Confirmation of Attendance’ or ‘chit’ system

In Great Britain, what started out as the Probation ‘Confirmation of Attendance’ or ‘chit’ system continues to expand, now being made available to social workers, courts and employers  – to almost any ‘professional’ who requires a ‘client’ to provide proof of their A.A. meeting attendance.

This expansion is in line with Government implementation of the Synanon Cult based Therapeutic Communities Movement’s Recovery Orientated Integration System (ROIS) into British drug addiction and alcoholism treatment systems.  The ROIS treatment system includes coercive referral to A.A.  ROIS is also known as Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC). US style drug courts have been trialled in Scotland, England and Wales.

While sections of the A.A. service structure in Great Britain are responding positively to these external initiatives, A.A. groups may not be fully informed as to the origin and nature of ROIS, or how the participation in signing of proof of attendance slips in the USA has compromised A.A. unity and public relations.

Whether for or against the  ‘Confirmation of Attendance’ or ‘chit’ system, A.A. members in Great Britain would do well to read the following A.A. report from the USA:

  “A Report on the Status of Cooperation with Courts in the Mid-Michigan Area and AA as a Whole” 

Containing A.A. reports from Mid-Michigan, Dallas and Maryland, this report documents problems A.A. groups have faced, gives analysis of A.A. Traditions, and how groups in some areas have resolved issues of disunity and affiliation with outside entities. The report documents how groups in Dallas, Chicago and Maryland have developed methods of cooperating with the Criminal Justice System which do not involve A.A. groups signing proof of attendance slips.

Extracts:

“What started out as an offer to work with any probationers that wanted help, has evolved into a complex system that is full of punitive measures such as daily breath and urine tests, group counseling and even 24-7 alcohol level monitors. The latest addition is the implementation of “recovery coaches” which seem to further blur the line between cooperation and affiliation.”

“The courts have sentenced parties who are not alcoholics to our meetings. The melding of sobriety courts and drug courts has created Singleness of Purpose issues. Now the expansion into “Healing Courts” and “Mental Health Courts” has been too tempting to court professionals who view assigning AA meetings as a catchall that is easily justified under the umbrella of “what can it hurt?” Their lack of understanding coupled with AA’s general inability to communicate what AA is, and is not, has contributed to AA in fact becoming a dumping ground.” (Mid-Michigan, Cooperation with the Professional Community Committee, District 6, Area 32: ‘A Report on the Status of Cooperation with Courts in the Mid-Michigan Area and AA as a Whole’).

 “Our experience has gone from early euphoria at "so many new-comers" to concern, frustration, dissension, and finally, to a general realization that our survival was threatened.” (Maryland General Service Office: ‘D.W.I.’S and COURT SLIPS IN AA MEETINGS - A Report on the Experience of the Maryland Area of Alcoholics Anonymous’)

“AA members cannot police attendance, answer questions about probation, or allow probation officers who are not alcoholic to attend closed meetings. Of greater importance, we cannot give our names and telephone numbers for verification by the judicial system. All of this is in direct violation of Tradition 12. Anyone who attends an AA meeting should have the confidence that their anonymity will be preserved nor should anyone be required to divulge that information because of affiliation with an outside entity.”

“Alcoholics Anonymous becomes affiliated in the minds of the probationers with the judicial system. In signing the papers, we underscore that affiliation. We are violating both traditions 3 and 6.”

“Instead of being sentenced to A.A., the probationers are sentenced to CRIP. Since CRIP is a court program, probation officers are present to sign all papers, monitor attendance and answer questions.” (Dallas Intergroup Board of Trustees: ‘Court Referral Information Program Information Sheet’)

For full report PDF Click Here

- Will this be the shape of things to come for A.A. in Great Britain?

- Have the A.A. service structures in the USA and Great Britain been tricked into integrating A.A. with an external treatment system which in the long term benefits Synanon Cult based Therapeutic Communities at the expense of A.A. as a whole?

For more information on the Recovery Orientated Integration System (ROIS) and how this system integrates with A.A. see AA Minority Report 2017: “Synanon Cult Influence on Alcoholics Anonymous, Addiction Treatment and the Criminal Justice System 1968-2017”