Southern Subculture of Drinking and Driving: A Generalized Deviance Model for the Southern White Male

• NCJ Number: 167077
• Author(s): J B Roebuck; K S Murty
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 231 pages
• Sale Source: Garland Publishing, Inc.
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC. Current Issues in Criminal Justice Series Volume 17.

Annotation

To analyze cultural aspects of drinking and driving by white males in the southern United States, 2,786 driving under the influence (DUI) offenders in Georgia were classified into four subgroups: 281 first-time DUI offenders, 471 DUI recidivists, 1,295 DUI and other traffic offenders, and 739 mixed multiple offenders; the focus was on a sample of 311 white male DUI offenders.

Abstract

DUI offender subgroups were assessed in terms of sociodemographics, social-psychological characteristics, life history and personal relationship problems, self-concept, lifestyle, world view, drinking and driving patterns and attitudes, and reactions to the criminal justice system and the DUI label. In the subsample of 311 white male DUI offenders, 9 of every 10 white male DUI offenders were recidivist offenders whose deviant and/or criminal behavior appeared to be generated by two interrelated sources, generality of deviance and subcultural interaction. First-time DUI offenders were less deviant in all respects than the other subgroups. They had more self-control and lived in respectable middle class environments. Deviant acts of mixed multiple offenders were more persistent and grievous than the DUI and other traffic offender subgroup. Arrest histories of mixed multiple offenders were lengthier than any other subgroup and indicated a more threatening, violent, and pervasive criminal lifestyle than that of the other subgroups. Identities of DUI offenders were developed from a regional, subcultural, and class socialization process, and their interactions followed principles of symbolic interaction. DUI offenders appeared to act on what they deemed to be a rational basis rather than from any unconscious motivation. They perceived that working class people who drove inexpensive cars and dressed inexpensively were discriminated against in drunk driving arrest procedures and subsequent sentencing practices. Treatment and control suggestions are offered by DUI offender subgroups, and implications of the study findings and recommendations for further research are discussed. Appendixes contain additional information on national DUI arrest trends, the current study sample, and the distribution of DUI offenders by drinking-related perceptions. References, endnotes, and tables