Skip to main content

Social Control of the Drinking Driver

Drunken driving is the most serious crime likely to be committed by an adult. Each year in the United States it is responsible for approximately 20,000 fatalities, more than 500,000 arrests, and millions of violations. It involves a wider variety of social classes and economic strata than any other major violation of the law. Only recently, however, has the problem of alcohol and traffic safety received attention as a public policy issue.

Social Control of the Drinking Driver lays the groundwork for a much needed integration of methods, principles, and priorities. Law, criminology, biology, psychology, sociology, economics, public policy—the disciplines concerned with the problem of drinking and driving are many and varied, and research crosses national boundaries as well. It is not surprising, therefore, that an integrated general perspective has not yet emerged. Drawing on fourteen specialists and surveying the situations in nine countries, this book presents a comprehensive statement of current knowledge about drunken driving and its control.

482 pages | 6 x 9 | © 1988

Studies in Crime and Justice

Criminology

Law and Legal Studies: General Legal Studies, International Law

Political Science: Public Policy

Sociology: Criminology, Delinquency, Social Control

Table of Contents

Contributors
Introduction
A Note on Terminology
Acknowledgments
Part 1. Dimensions of the Problem
1. The Alcohol-Crash Problem
Alan C. Donelson
Part 2. Social Control in Other Countries
2. The Scandinavian Experience
Johannes Andenaes
3. Deterrence-based Policies in Britain, Canada, and Australia
H. Laurence Ross
4. Drinking-and-Driving Laws in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Netherlands
Gunter Kroj
Part 3. The American Context
5. The Control of Drinking-Driving in the United States: A Period in Transition?
Joseph R. Gusfield
6. The Legal Context in the United States
Michael D. Laurence
Part 4. Traditional Methods of Control
7. The Effects of Changes in Availability of Alcoholic Beverages
Ragnar Hauge
8. Deterrence of Alcohol-impaired Driving: An Effect in Search of a Cause
John R. Snortum
9. The Impact of Insurance and Civil Law Sanctions on Drunk Driving
James B. Jacobs
10. Programs to Change Individual Behavior: Education and Rehabilitation in the Prevention of Drinking and Driving
Robert E. Mann, Evelyn R. Vingilis, and Kathryn Stewart
11. The Economic Perspective on Controlling the Drunken Driver
Harold L. Votey, Jr.
Part 5. Innovations in Social Control
12. Drinking-Driving Intervention Strategies: A Person-Situation-Behavior Framework
E. Scott Geller and Galen R. Lehman
13. Emerging Technologies for Controlling the Drunk Driver
Robert B. Voas
14. Law, Societ, and the Drinking Driver: Some Concluding Reflections
Franklin E. Zimring
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Be the first to know

Get the latest updates on new releases, special offers, and media highlights when you subscribe to our email lists!

Sign up here for updates about the Press