Fatal Drunk Driving Accidents Increase as DUI Arrests Decrease
Another example of the effect of reducing the consequences for criminal behavior is playing out across America. Over the past several years, as part of the progressive criminal justice reform movement, the penalties for drunk driving have been reduced. Like commercial burglary, shoplifting, simple assault and drug dealing, drunk driving is considered a “low level” crime in most states. Scott Calvert of the Wall Street Journal reports that while the number of fatal accidents involving drunk drivers are the highest in 20 years, arrests for drunk driving have plummeted.
“Though the risk of arrest is widely considered a key deterrent to drunken driving, DUI arrests in recent years have sunk to multidecade lows, Federal Bureau of Investigation figures show. They dropped from just over a million in 2019 to about 780,000 in 2020. The FBI said there were 788,000 such arrests in 2022, the latest data available.” Continue reading . . .
