The dui offender as a social type

This study of 311 white DUI offenders is based on three sources: (a) survey data, (b) personal interviews, and (c) official arrest histories. All cases were examined along eight research dimensions: arrest charges, sociodemographic variables, perceived self‐drinking attributes, behavioral drinking problems, identities, life histories, personal problems, and life styles. Two hundred and eighty‐nine multiple offenders were found to comprise an identifiable generalized deviant social type. The remaining cases, a residual category of 22 “negative cases,” were first‐time offenders and social drinkers. We suggest that our findings may be applicable to other DUI samples. For the most part DUI offenders are “criminals on the road.”