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Jail Sentences for Driving While Intoxicated in Chicago: A Judicial Policy that Failed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Leon S. Robertson ,
Robert F. Rich  and
H. Laurence Ross
Leon S. Robertson
Affiliation:
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Robert F. Rich
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
H. Laurence Ross
Affiliation:
University of Denver
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Excessive drinking is involved in over one-half of the motor vehicle associated fatalities in the United States (Department of Transportation, 1968). Various means have been suggested, and some tried, to curb these losses. In only a few cases have countermeasures against driving while intoxicated been subjected to scientifically acceptable evaluation as to effectiveness.

In one such study, Barmack and Payne (1964b) used an information program with administrative review and psychiatric referral in an attempt to reduce alcohol-related crashes by airmen at an Air Force base. Based on their earlier studies (1964a) showing various types of stress-related and deviant behavior associated with driving while intoxicated, the image of the intoxicated driver as "sick" was communicated in meetings, on bulletin boards, and in the base newspaper. Airmen who lost time because of injury in a privately-owned vehicle had their service records reviewed, and evidence of "ineffective behavior" could result in discharge or psychiatric referral. The psychiatrist could then recommend a medical discharge, suggest psychiatric therapy, or take no action.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Fall 1973 , pp. 55 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © 1973 Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

AUTHORS' NOTE: The comments and assistance of D. T. Campbell, G. V. Glass, the police departments and coroners' offices of Chicago and Milwaukee, and the staff of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are gratefully acknowledged, The study was sponsored by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

References

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