Research demonstrates that punitive approaches to DWI employed by the judiciary have failed to significantly reduce recidivism. However, little is known about the deterrent effects of administrative and diversion sanctions. The authors examined whether such sanctions deter first-time DWI offenders. They grouped combinations of administrative, judicial, and diversion sanctions routinely employed in the state of Maryland for processing drivers arrested for DWI into one of eight mutually exclusive disposition sequences. This classification was applied to Maryland drivers who had been licensed in the state and had precisely one DWI on their record prior to January 1, 1999. Then a proportional hazards model was used to estimate the probability of remaining free of a new DWI during a 6-year period (January 1, 1999 - December 31, 2004) as a function of the disposition of the index violation, and of selected factors that could affect that probability. Drivers with a prior DWI were at relatively high risk of recidivating regardless of how they were sanctioned. Those who received administrative and alternative sanctions had a risk of recidivating similar to that of drivers who were convicted. It is concluded that all dispositions sequences, not just convictions, indicate that first-time DWI offenders are at high risk of recidivating.
Samenvatting