Perceptual Deterrence and Drinking and Driving Among College Students

• NCJ Number: 112007
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 26 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1988) Pages: 321-341
• Author(s): L Lanza-Kaduce
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 21 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Cincinnati, 1984.

Annotation

This research examines the effect of perceived legal risks on drinking and driving.

Abstract

Young adults, aged 18 to 24, are disproportionately involved in alcohol-related traffic accidents. Data are from college students who were surveyed three times. Self-reports of recent drinking and driving at Time 3 are regressed on Time 1 and Time 2 measures of perceived risk of punishment. Results indicate that prior moral evaluations, past drinking and driving, and previous legal intervention for drinking and driving are controlled. Results also show that moral tolerance, previous drinking and driving episodes, and having been stopped by police while driving intoxicated all predict subsequent drinking and driving. The net effect of prior perceptions of arrest risk and punishment severity on subsequent drinking and driving is small. Among this college population, it appears that drunk driving is not deterred very much by the threat of legal punishment. 3 tables, 6 footnotes, appendix, and 44 references. (Author abstract modified)