NCJ Number
101583
Date Published
1983
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper proposes a Federal alcohol tax dedicated to funding the level of criminal justice effort required to deter drunk driving. Such a tax could raise more than $6 billion annually.
Abstract
The deterrence of drunk driving depends upon police sustaining a high proportion of apprehensions in relation to the number of drunk driving incidents. Barriers to increasing the enforcement level include the large number of drunk driving incidents concentrated in the night hours, the limited number of police patrol hours which States and localities can devote to detecting and apprehending drunk drivers, and the costs of processing additional drunk driving cases. Limited funds significantly undermine the expansion of law enforcement efforts to control drunk driving. Funds to reimburse States and localities for the expanded control of drunk driving should come from an additional Federal tax on alcoholic beverages. Five cents tax per half ounce of ethanol would raise more than $6 billion, which could be used to triple drunk driving arrests and thus sustain deterrence over time. The tax fund could be administered through a National Trust Fund for Drunk Driving Control and Prevention, which would reimburse State and local jurisdictions on the basis of per-unit-of-service, e.g., $500 per arrest, $250 per prosecution, $100 per presentence drinking problem assessment, etc.