NCJ Number
149124
Date Published
1993
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This report was prepared in response to the continuing interest of the public and the New York State Legislature in the number of persons committed for driving while intoxicated (DWI) and other automobile-related felonies; it examines selected characteristics of DWI and DWI-related felony offense commitments from 1978 through 1993.
Abstract
DWI-related offenses examined are criminally negligent homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol, vehicular manslaughter, and vehicular assault. The study found that there have been increases in the number of DWI second-offense commitments every year since 1978. The number of such commitments has risen from 15 in 1978 to 316 in 1993. They still are just over 1 percent of the commitments to New York State prisons for 1993. The number of offenders committed to the Department of Correctional Services in 1993 for DWI-related offenses declined from its all-time high of 47 in 1990 to 27. Unlike DWI commitments, no discernible patterns in the number of annual commitments for DWI-related offenses has emerged. DWI or related offenders are more likely to be white, committed from rural upstate counties, and older than non-DWI offenders committed.