BAC Test Refusals: Are Impaired Driving Laws Threatened?

描述(申请人提供)：在经历了15年的下降后，与酒精有关的机动车死亡人数正在增加。研究人员和倡导者正在努力了解为什么会发生这种逆转，并找到解决方案。这项拟议的研究调查了一个可能的促成因素：拒绝酒后驾车(DUI)嫌疑人接受血液酒精浓度(BAC)的化学测试。酒后驾车定罪在很大程度上取决于BAC证据。然而，州BAC的拒绝率从5%到85%不等。缺乏BAC证据使对受损驾驶的起诉复杂化，从而提供了相当大的诱因来拒绝BAC测试。这项拟议的研究涉及对16个州的驾照记录进行二次分析，覆盖全国三分之一的酒后驾车违法者，以确定拒绝逃避定罪和违法者累犯的重要性。它还将调查拒绝是否在增加，以及 那些拒绝测试的人以及惩罚测试拒绝的法律的影响。这项研究的结果将对面临联邦立法的州政策制定者有用，联邦立法为各州提供激励，以加大对拒绝的惩罚力度。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): After a 15-year decline, alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities are increasing. Researchers and advocates are searching to understand why this reversal has occurred and to identify solutions. This proposed research examines one possible contributing factor: refusal of driving-under-the influence (DUI) suspects to submit to chemical tests of their blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Drunk-driving convictions largely are dependent on BAC evidence. Yet, state BAC refusal rates range from 5% to 85%. The absence of BAC evidence complicates prosecution for impaired driving, thus providing considerable incentive for offenders to refuse the BAC test. The proposed study involves a secondary analysis of the driver license records from 16 states covering a third of all DUI offenders in the nation to determine the importance of refusal to avoid conviction and to offender recidivism. It will also investigate whether refusals are increasing and the characteristics of those that refuse the test and the affect of laws which penalize test refusal. The results of the study will be useful to state policymakers who face federal legislation that provides incentives for states to increase the severity of the penalties for refusal.