The Social Construction of Drunken Driving: Modeling the Organizational Processing of DWI Defendants

In: Social science quarterly, Band 67, Heft 4, S. 785-802

Abstract

The impact of legal & extralegal factors on the court processing of 498 defendants accused of driving while intoxicated (DWI) is gauged, using data from court records in a suburban Md county. Extralegal considerations -- ie, the gender, income, & race of defendants -- are found to matter most when the determination of guilt is at issue, but legal considerations -- ie, number of prior convictions & the severity of the offense -- have more substantial effects when sentence is decided. Consistent with the predictions of Clarice S. Stoll (see SA 17:7/69E0572), extralegal factors are found to predict court outcomes best when judges have the most influence over a DWI outcome, but extralegal factors tend to be disregarded when probation officers are more influential. 3 Tables, 43 References. Modified HA