Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1984

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Sociology

Major Professor

James Black

Committee Members

Robert G. Perrin, Hyrum Plaas, Samuel E. Wallace

Abstract

The folk crime of driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs (DUI) represents a major category of crime in the United States but has had minimal study and exposure in the scientific literature. That crime is studied in this research in conjunction with a local "deterrence" campaign against DUI. Data were gathered on those convicted of DUI for two 244-day periods in an interrupted time-series analysis. The first eight-month period was prior to a statewide campaign against DUIs. Data from that series were compared with data from a second eight-month data-set while the campaign was in progress, stratified to the same months but in different years. Individuals cited and convicted of DUI by the Sheriff's Department during pre-campaign periods have been compared with those convicted during the campaign along the attributes of age, sex, race, and socio-economic status (SES). The primary statistics used were tests of covariance, mean deviation, and change percent.

There was evidence of a "penetrating" effect, with the same general offender characteristics more in evidence during the presence than during the absence of a campaign. Those characteristics do not closely fit a standard "criminal" profile found most often in mainstream crime literature: young, male, and disproportionately black. Rather, the most often convicted offender during campaigns was also male, but white, and over 25 years old. Blacks who were convicted closely matched their (17.7 %) proportions in the local population, but when controlling for sex, it was found that few black females were convicted. Neither were there proportionate numbers of white females convicted. The age-group most often convicted prior to a campaign was in the 25 - 35 range, but this changed to an over-35 group during the campaign. In turn, 50 percent of those convicted of DUX are estimated to be of lower socio-economic status.

If replication results hold up in other regions, the main implication of the study will be to focus future deterrence efforts toward this "symbolic assailant" type: white, male, and over 25 years of age.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS