NCJ Number
115797
Date Published
1988
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This document reports on the history and development of drunk-driving legislation in California, emphasizing that although the 1980s mark a time of unique drunk-driving policy making, future policies must develop new and innovative strategies.
Abstract
The analysis of anti-drunk driving legislative patterns in California shows that from 1910 to the 1960s, drunk driving laws were affixed to the State's vehicle code. Then, in the 1960s, the State legislature began to attack the issue more directly by enacting an implied consent law and legislation providing that a drunk driving conviction would rest on using blood alcohol concentration to prove impairment. In the 1980s, the legislature fine-tuned existing strategies by increasing penalties and classifying various kinds of offenders. Incarceration and mandatory minimum sentencing schemes were enacted. While public attitudes in the 1980s reflected a seriousness about the dangers of drunk driving, new options to deter those who drive under the influence must be found and exercised by the legislature and the criminal justice system. 24 footnotes.