Wowzers.

Signature for what? Who requires the sigs and who are supposed to be legitimately signing it?

in many states when a person gets an alcohol related driving offense the judge can give them the same choices i was given. the person has a probation officer to report to with tne slips with signatures usually from tne person,chairing the meeting.

Court ordered meetings are being struck down in many states for a variety of reasons, Separation of church and state is the biggie and yes, AA is deemed a religious org in many supreme courts due to the "g" word throughout all it's literature. The other biggie is there are no Official AA people. I've actually seen an old-timer tell a kid he would not sign his last name cuz AA is Anonymous, duh. AA's traditions are against this but have sort of allowed it for yrs. Do some research. Never have I seen an AA member subpeona-ed to testify if someone was at a meeting or not--would go directly against AA's traditions....as does the whole affiliation from day one. Most groups just think they're helping society but it's a very grey area indeed. That being said I have seen more than one paper-person stay sober and become productive members over the years---but less than five.

So any schmo can sign the paper and they won't reconcile the signatures?

oh they can.has happened more than once a probation officer has callex tne numbers.

Like Tom said, it's hit and miss a bit like driving drunk: you might luck out and not get pulled over or you might get busted. I guess some people either like to gamble and live dangerously or are so caught up in their addiction that all sense of self preservation has left them.

Anyway, people can opt to go to a secular group like SMART and get their papers signed there or they can pay the piper and go to jail for breaking the law in the first place.

I am not a fan of court mandated meetings either. Aside from the first amendment issues I feels it also goes against AA traditions.
Some groups will not sign court slips. Mine does so when I have secretaried, I just followed the group conscience but it does not mean that I agree with it.

I think the reasoning behind mandating people to treatment or support groups is to give them a chance to change if they want to. Unfortunately, we end up with people who whine that they have to do something and truly don't want to quit as if they were expecting a free pass and a pat on the back for endangering public safety.
They are so caught up into their selfishness that they cannot even see how they are responsible for what they did and what could have happened (killing someone for example).

I feel that people who drive under the influence should spend some time in jail period.
If they decide they don't like the consequences of their drinking, they can start their recovery right there behind bars: with or without AA.
Sending most of those people to AA is wasting everyone's time.

A close family member of mine turns in a paper dutifully every month to her probation officer. We have a printer and a meeting schedule.....oh and our local homegroup has a facebook page.....with first and last names. Also, any 3 people can have a meeting...anywhere....anytime. I am absolutely not advocating this behavior but if someone does not want to go....they just aint.