Forced AA?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 360
Forced AA?
Something occurred to me today, don't some people get court ordered to go to meetings as part of parole or something? I'm just wondering how these types of people would affect the atmosphere of the meeting, I mean if you had the choice between jail and meetings, most people would pick meetings, but they wouldn't necessarily want to be there or have any desire to quit drugs or alcohol.
Wouldn't such people create a negative atmosphere, or make it uncomfortable to speak or participate? Or maybe they get their own separate meetings, I really don't know how this kind of situation is dealt with and am curious.
Wouldn't such people create a negative atmosphere, or make it uncomfortable to speak or participate? Or maybe they get their own separate meetings, I really don't know how this kind of situation is dealt with and am curious.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Between Meetings
Posts: 8,997
Not really a big deal...Some of the ones forced into it like it and work it....Some catch up on their sleep or play with their phones. I pay attention to who is sharing and what I can get out of that.....That's what I'm there for. To learn and share about recovery.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: LA - Lower Alabama
Posts: 5,068
Forced AA has actually been ruled unconstitutional in parts of the USA at a couple of appellate courts, but it hasn't made its way to the SCOTUS yet. Here is a link:
Appeals court says requirement to attend AA unconstitutional - SFGate
The way CA gets around this is they order you to alcohol meetings, and all non-AA alternatives are included. Since AA outnumbers non-AA meetings by about 20:1 if not more, this is de facto court ordered AA.
Down south here, there are a growing number of AA groups that just refuse to sign court cards. The judge can order you to AA down here, but they cannot order the AA group to sign cards.
Me personally, I don't think these people are too much trouble, like Sapling said. You don't have to have a desire to quit drinking to attend an open AA meeting.
Appeals court says requirement to attend AA unconstitutional - SFGate
The way CA gets around this is they order you to alcohol meetings, and all non-AA alternatives are included. Since AA outnumbers non-AA meetings by about 20:1 if not more, this is de facto court ordered AA.
Down south here, there are a growing number of AA groups that just refuse to sign court cards. The judge can order you to AA down here, but they cannot order the AA group to sign cards.
Me personally, I don't think these people are too much trouble, like Sapling said. You don't have to have a desire to quit drinking to attend an open AA meeting.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Central Kansas
Posts: 175
When I first started attending AA I noticed slips of paper being put into the basket rather then a donation, my curiosity got the best of me so I asked why? Found out they were court ordered.
I have experienced no negative feed back from them during meetings. But I have met many who were benefitted from it and who are now recovering Alcoholics. Sometimes getting in trouble with the law is just what some needed in order to get the help they've been looking for.
At the meetings I attend they are Welcomed and treated the same as all.
I have experienced no negative feed back from them during meetings. But I have met many who were benefitted from it and who are now recovering Alcoholics. Sometimes getting in trouble with the law is just what some needed in order to get the help they've been looking for.
At the meetings I attend they are Welcomed and treated the same as all.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,678
I spoke to someone who was court ordered quite a few times to go to AA. He just went because he had to and just sat there and didn't say anything. Now he goes there off his own accord. He still doesn't say much but is sober now 
To me he is no different to me, sat there not saying anything...
To me he is no different to me, sat there not saying anything...
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
it has planted a seed into many so that when they admit alcohol is a problem, they know wheres theres a solution.
i have seen it dealt with in different ways. my HG's group conscience is to let them attend closed meetings at my HG. if they are disruptive, they are asked to leave, which has only happened 2 or 3 times in the last 7 years.
i was a paper hanger. about a month after my court ordered meetings, which i only did for about 2 months of the year, then got signatures at the bar, i found myself in the meetings ready to stop drinking.
i have seen it dealt with in different ways. my HG's group conscience is to let them attend closed meetings at my HG. if they are disruptive, they are asked to leave, which has only happened 2 or 3 times in the last 7 years.
i was a paper hanger. about a month after my court ordered meetings, which i only did for about 2 months of the year, then got signatures at the bar, i found myself in the meetings ready to stop drinking.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 6,947
Originally Posted by Admiral 
Wouldn't such people create a negative atmosphere, or make it uncomfortable to speak or participate?
NO!!... To your second question, at least for me... I want them to hear what people have to say, their experience, what happened, all that... If even one gets recovery as a result...that is a success... and those that don't, maybe they don't need it, don't want it or are not ready for it.
Some in AA refuse to sign the slips. My brother does. He laughs it off and jokes... "It is better to give a resentment than receive one..." Citing that the courts can't tell AA what to do... LOL, though I can't say that I agree with the resentment thing, at least on a F2F personal level.
I don't refuse to sign them, when I am chairing, it gives me an opportunity to meet newcomers and leave them with as positive an AA experience as possible.
Peace, Love, Sobriety
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Wilmington, DE
Posts: 1,549
It doesn't really create a negative situation, at least I have never seen one. But I have seen people who obviously don't want to be there. They don't really bother anyone however. And they don't have their own meetings they attend right along with the rest of us.
It's just like in the big book "Though he may come to scoff, he may remain to pray" They might be court ordered there, but we hope they will hear something that makes them stay with us.
It's just like in the big book "Though he may come to scoff, he may remain to pray" They might be court ordered there, but we hope they will hear something that makes them stay with us.
dude in recovery
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Gulf Coast, TX
Posts: 1,504
One of my drinking buddies had gotten a DUI back in the late 90s and was court ordered to AA. I knew back then that he drank as much if not more than I did... and I knew I had a big problem in the works. When we'd drink it was always a binge session and he'd sit around griping "I'm not that bad", excusing his drinking as though it were the norm. I sometimes wish it had been me to get the court order.
I heard from another friend that he now has over a year of sobriety, not sure if it was AA that finally got him, but if I were to go to meetings I'd attend the closed.. just 'cause I'd want to be around admitted addicts.
I heard from another friend that he now has over a year of sobriety, not sure if it was AA that finally got him, but if I were to go to meetings I'd attend the closed.. just 'cause I'd want to be around admitted addicts.
Peace, Love, Sobriety
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Wilmington, DE
Posts: 1,549
Originally Posted by Scolova
One of my drinking buddies had gotten a DUI back in the late 90s and was court ordered to AA. I knew back then that he drank as much if not more than I did... and I knew I had a big problem in the works. When we'd drink it was always a binge session and he'd sit around griping "I'm not that bad", excusing his drinking as though it were the norm. I sometimes wish it had been me to get the court order.
I heard from another friend that he now has over a year of sobriety, not sure if it was AA that finally got him, but if I were to go to meetings I'd attend the closed.. just 'cause I'd want to be around admitted addicts.
I heard from another friend that he now has over a year of sobriety, not sure if it was AA that finally got him, but if I were to go to meetings I'd attend the closed.. just 'cause I'd want to be around admitted addicts.
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