NCJ Number
170552
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 35 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1998) Pages: 3-39
Date Published
1998
Length
37 pages
Annotation
A survey of 1,186 licensed drivers regarding drinking alcohol and driving tested Stafford and Warr's recent restatement of the deterrence doctrine to assert that people experience deterrence through a mixture of personal and vicarious experiences with punishment and the avoidance of punishment.
Abstract
The research examined the concept that persons may be influenced by both general and specific deterrence mechanisms; this concept is an implication of the Stafford and War premise that persons may be affected both by what they directly experience and by what they only indirectly experience through others. Data were collected in April 1986 by means of a telephone survey of a national random sample of licensed drivers ages 16 or older. The survey instrument contained 62 items. Results revealed that persons' expressed intentions to drink alcohol and drive are affected by (1) personal and vicarious experiences and (2) punishment and punishment avoidance. The perceived certainty of punishment had strong deterrent effects. Moral beliefs that prohibit drunk driving were also an effective source of inhibition of drinking and driving. In addition, the social control of drunk driving seemed to operate equally well for men and women. Figure, tables, notes, and 65 references (Author abstract modified)