To determine if first-time offenders with “borderline” high-BACs were less likely than other high-BAC offenders to receive enhanced sanctions, case dispositions for offenders with “borderline” BACs of .20-.22 were compared to case dispositions for offenders with BACs > .23 (Table 6). In 1998, 81.2 percent of first-time offenders with BACs .20-.22 received enhanced high-BAC sanctions, compared to 91.3 percent of offenders with BAC > .23. The sanctions included both enhanced administrative and enhanced court dispositions (including enhanced turnaround) for 60.1 percent of offenders with BACs .20-.22 and 72.0 percent of offenders with BACs > .23. In 1999, the difference in severity of case dispositions widened considerably between these two groups of offenders: 71.1 percent of offenders with BACs .20-.22 received enhanced sanctions, compared to 87.2 percent of offenders with BACs > .23. The sanctions included both enhanced administrative and enhanced court dispositions (including enhanced turnaround) for 44.2 percent of offenders with BACs .20-.22, compared to 65.4 percent of offenders with BACs > .23. The patterns of case dispositions for the two groups of high-BAC offenders in 2000 (not shown) were not markedly different from those in 1999.
Case Dispositions for First-time DWI Offenders
BAC .20-.22 vs. BAC > .23
Minnesota, 1998 and 1999
|
1998 |
1999 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAC .20-.22 |
BAC >. 23 |
BAC .20-.22 |
BAC > .23 |
|
| Total Cases (N) |
2,351 |
1,705 |
2,443 |
1,766 |
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
| Refusal or Standard Administrative Only |
0.7 |
0.4 |
0.7 |
0.3 |
| Enhanced Administrative Only |
7.7 |
8.0 |
8.6 |
8.5 |
| Standard DWI Conviction Only |
11.3 |
5.1 |
15.4 |
6.5 |
| Enhanced DWI Conviction Only |
2.3 |
3.5 |
2.3 |
3.7 |
| Standard Turnaround (Administrative & Conviction) |
6.5 |
2.7 |
13.5 |
5.5 |
| Enhanced Turnaround (Administrative & Conviction) |
39.1 |
44.6 |
24.6 |
37.8 |
| Standard Administrative & Standard Conviction |
0.3 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
0.5 |
| Standard Administrative & Enhanced Conviction |
0.3 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
| Enhanced Administrative & Standard Conviction |
10.8 |
7.4 |
14.7 |
9.3 |
|
Enhanced Administrative & Enhanced Conviction |
21.0 |
27.4 |
19.6 |
27.6 |
| Total Standard Sanctions |
18.8 |
8.7 |
29.9 |
12.8 |
| Total Enhanced Sanctions |
81.2 |
91.3 |
71.1 |
87.2 |