Technical Report Documentation Page
| 1. Report No. DOT HS 809 677 |
2. Government Accession No. |
3. Recipient's Catalog No. | ||
| 4. Title and Subtitle
Enhanced Sanctions for Higher BACs: Evaluation of Minnesota's High-BAC Law |
5. Report Date
May 2004 |
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| 6. Performing Organization Code |
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| 7. Author(s)
Anne T. McCartt and Veronika Shabanova Northrup |
8. Performing Organization Report No. |
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| 9. Performing Organization Name and Address
Preusser Research Group, Inc. 7100 Main Street Trumbull, CT 06611 |
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) |
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| 11. Contract or Grant No.
DTNH22-98-D-45079 |
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| 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Research and Technology 400 7th Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20590 |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered
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| 14. Sponsoring Agency Code | ||||
| 15. Supplementary Notes Amy Berning served as the NHTSA Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative for this study. |
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| 16. Abstract Thirty-one states provide for enhanced sanctions for DWI offenders with “high” BACs. States vary in terms of the high-BAC threshold (which ranges from .15 to .20), and the types, severity, and complexity of sanctions. On January 1, 1998, Minnesota implemented a law imposing enhanced mandatory minimum administrative and criminal sanctions on offenders with BACs > .20. The percentage of first offenders with BACs > .20 declined from 16.9% in 1998 to 15.5% in 2000; the percentage of high-BAC repeat offenders declined from 21.0% to 20.4%. The alcohol test refusal rate for first offenders declined from 12.7% in 1997 to 10.5% in 2000; the refusal rate for repeat offenders was about 22% before and after the law. After the law, high-BAC offenders received more severe case dispositions than lower-BAC offenders. In 1998, 85.6% of high-BAC first offenders received enhanced administrative and/or court sanctions; 65.0 percent received both an enhanced administrative and enhanced court disposition. The percentage of high-BAC first offenders receiving enhanced sanctions declined from 1998 (85.6%) to 1999 (77.6%) and 2000 (78.3%), but was consistently about 97% for repeat high-BAC offenders. Based on survival analysis involving first offenders arrested in 1998, the 1-year recidivism rate (controlling for age and gender) for high-BAC offenders was significantly lower than for offenders who refused the alcohol test and for a “comparison” offender group with BACs .17-.19, but was not significantly different than for offenders with BACs < .17. There were similar, but not significant, effects of alcohol test results on 2-year recidivism rates for 1998 first offenders and 1-year recidivism rates for 1999 first offenders. There were no significant effects of alcohol test results for repeat offenders arrested in either 1998 or 1999. |
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| 17. Key Words alcohol-impaired driving, DUI, alcohol-impaired driving sanctions, DWI, high-BAC, BAC |
18. Distribution Statement This report is available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, VA 22161 (703) 605-6000. It is also available, free of charge, on the NHTSA web site at www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
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| 19. Security Classif. (of this report)
unclassified |
20. Security Classif. (of this page)
unclassified |
21. No. of Pages | 22. Price |
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Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72)