NCJ Number
91530
Date Published
1983
Length
366 pages
Annotation
During 1982, 22 States and the District of Columbia passed Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) legislation that mandates more severe DWI sanctions or plugs loopholes to ensure that existing statutes are more consistently imposed.
Abstract
However, a survey of 50 States and the District of Columbia found that sanctions mandated by State statutes are not being imposed as prescribed because individual jurisdictions often interpret State legislation differently. Sanctions typically imposed are considerably less severe than those stipulated by State law. All 50 States and the District of Columbia mandate the use of license actions for DWI offenders, and 26 States stipulate a mandatory penalty that cannot be suspended or probated by the courts. A total of 22 States have adopted community service as sanction for DWI offenders, with 11 of these mandating the sanction on a statewide basis. This study documents state-of-the-art DWI sanctioning practices nationwide and provides new information about the sanctions on the books and those actually imposed on DWI offenders. It provides the first practical review of DWI sanctioning practices in each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia, as well as detailed information about mandatory confinement, license actions, and community service as DWI sanctions. Tables and footnotes are given. Appendixes supply a review of the sanctioning literature, directory of respondents, and sanctions on the books typically imposed for each State surveyed. (Author summary modified)