Driving under the Influence: The Effects on Crime and Society

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Driving Under the Influence: The Effects on Crime and Society Over the past century driving under the influence has caused many problems for crime and society in the United States and all over the world. According to the state of Utah’s statute driving under the influence is defined as “a person operating a motor vehicle that has been drinking and has an increased amount of alcohol in their system that can show up on a blood test or a breath test of .08 or greater at the time of the test (Wormdahl, 2012).” However, in the state of Utah also includes being under the influence of any type of controlled substance that prevents the driver from being able to operate the vehicle properly (Wormdahl, 2012). In the United States the legal drinking age is twenty-one years old. According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (2009b) the limit for drinking and driving differs depending on the type of vehicle if it is a commercialized vehicle the legal limit is .04 and if the driver is under the age of twenty-one anything above .00, requires a revoked license for thirty days. One thing that is different for Driving Under the Influence that differs from all other traffic infractions is that DUIs can result anywhere for example parking lots or even setting in your own driveway can result in you receiving a DUI charge (Wormdahl, 2012). There are two different terms that can be used to describe someone that is impaired or under the influence and they are Driving While Impaired and Driving under the Influence. In 1983, the state of North Carolina imposed the North Carolina Safe Road Act, which did away with all of the alcohol and drug laws while driving and combined them into what is now known as DWI or Driving While Impaired. The g... ... middle of paper ... ...nsed, disqualified or uninsured driving: Blameless driving and the scope of legal causation. Journal of Criminal Law, 78(1), 16-21. doi: 10.1350 North Carolina Department of Public Safety (2009a) Drug and alcohol testing. North Carolina Department of Public Safety (2009b) Zero tolerance. North Carolina DUI & DWI Laws & Enforcement at DMV (2014). The dmv made simple Rubenzer, S. (2011) Judging intoxication. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, l. 29(1), 116-137. doi:10.1002/bsl.935 Shults, R.A., Elder, R.W., Sleet, D.A., Nichols, J.L., Alao, M.O., Carande-Kulis, V.G., Zaza, S., Sosin, D.M., Thompson, R.S., & Task Force on Community Preventive Services. (2001) Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 21(4), 66-88. Wormdahl, P. (2012) DUI law in a flash. Utah Bar Journal, 25(2), 62-66.

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