Statutes mandating or allowing vehicle-based sanctions for impaired driving exist in many states. These sanctions are usually applied to offenders who repeat the driving while impaired (DWI) offense or who drive while under a license suspension or revocation imposed for an impaired driving offense. Thus, these sanctions are of considerable interest as a strategy both for incapacitating drinking drivers and for increasing general deterrence. The study now in progress examines a penalty being used in some parts of Ohio. Offenders who are convicted of multiple impaired driving offenses within five years or of driving on a suspended license face having their vehicles impounded at the time of arrest and at the time of arrest and later immobilized for 60 to 180 days with a club or boot device on the property of the offender. This report covers the first year of the program, during which 600 vehicles have been impounded and immobilized. The paper will describe implementation problems (including inconsistent application of the law by judges, prosecutors, and the police) and the strategies used to address them as well as preliminary findings of the outcome evaluation under way. (A)
Abstract