Driving Under The Influence: The Impact Of Legislative Reform On The Role Of Legal And Extralegal Variables In Court Sentencing Practices

Abstract

This paper analyzes the contribution of legal and extralegal factors in the sentencing of misdemeanor DUI defendants, with particular emphasis on the impact of legislative reform on the relative importance of these factors in the sentencing decision. Legal variables consistently dominate the decision to impose a jail term and the length of that term when imposed, both before and after reform. Among the extralegal variables only type of attorney representation is significantly related to sentencing outcomes, and then only for first offenders after implementation of the new law. Because the law and court policy permit these defendants a choice of sentence, this finding is interpreted as a reflection of class-based choices by criminal defendants rather than of court discrimination. Unlike other analyses of DUI sentencing, we found no judicial resistance to implementation of the legislative reform.