ENHANCED SANCTIONS FOR HIGHER BACS: EVALUATION OF MINNESOTA'S HIGH-BAC LAW

Thirty-one states provide for enhanced sanctions for driving while intoxicated (DWI) offenders with "high" blood alcohol concentrations (BACs). States vary in terms of the high-BAC threshold (which ranges from .15 to .20), and the types, severity, and complexity of sanctions. On January 1, 1998, Minnesota implemented a law imposing enhanced mandatory minimum administrative and criminal sanctions on offenders with BACs > .20. The percentage of first offenders with BACs > .20 declined from 16.9% in 1998 to 15.5% in 2000; the percentage of high-BAC repeat offenders declined from 21.0% to 20.4%. The alcohol test refusal rate for first offenders declined from 12.7% in 1997 to 10.5% in 2000; the refusal rate for repeat offenders was about 22% before and after the law. After the law, high-BAC offenders received more severe case dispositions than lower-BAC offenders. In 1998, 85.6% of high-BAC first offenders received enhanced administrative and/or court sanctions; 65.0% received both an enhanced administrative and enhanced court disposition. The percentage of high-BAC first offenders receiving enhanced sanctions declined from 1998 (85.6%) to 1999 (77.6%) and 2000 (78.3%), but was consistently about 97% for repeat high-BAC offenders. Based on survival analysis involving first offenders arrested in 1998, the 1-year recidivism rate (controlling for age and gender) for high-BAC offenders was significantly lower than for offenders who refused the alcohol test and for a "comparison" offender group with BACs .17-.19, but was not significantly different than for offenders with BACs <.17. There were similar, but not significant, effects of alcohol test results on 2-year recidivism rates for 1998 first offenders and 1-year recidivism rates for 1999 first offenders. There were no significant effects of alcohol test results for repeat offenders arrested in either 1998 or 1999.