Term of Award

Fall 2024

Degree Name

Master of Science, Criminal Justice and Criminology

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology

Committee Chair

Kristina Thompson

Committee Member 1

Logan Somers

Committee Member 2

Caitlin Brady

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of police discretion in driving under the influence (DUI) arrests in Georgia, where DUI enforcement revolves around two types of DUI statutes - DUI per se charges, which involve driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) above the legal limit, and DUI less-safe charges, which depend on an officer’s assessment of impairment when BAC is below this threshold (Keeffe, 2023). Importantly, while both charges are seemingly meant to criminalize the same behavior, DUI less-safe charges represent enforcement much more reliant on the discretion of the attending officer. Drawing from foundational criminal justice theories on police discretion, this study investigates how various law enforcement agencies (county, city, state, and university police) exercise discretion in DUI enforcement in a rural area with a significant college population.

Bivariate analyses revealed that DUI per se arrests are associated with fewer charges, are more likely to involve 18–24-year-old defendants, are more likely to occur at night, and that agencies differ in their use of DUI per se and DUI less-safe arrests. When covariates were modeled together, logistic regression showed that college-aged individuals had odds approximately 4.42 times higher of receiving a DUI per se charge compared to non-college-aged individuals. Similarly, city police were associated with 4.79 times higher odds and college police had 13.84 times higher odds than state patrol to issue per se charges relative to less safe charges. Finally, cases occurring during the afternoon or night were significantly associated with per se charges, which require less use of discretion. Overall, the differences in DUI charges by departments may reflect varying enforcement priorities, with some agencies relying more on DUI per se charges, particularly for younger individuals stopped at night, possibly due to the clearer evidence provided by BAC levels. These findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on the balance between police discretion, accountability, and equity in law enforcement, offering practical insights for policy reform aimed at standardizing DUI enforcement and reducing biases in rural and college town settings.

OCLC Number

1478273825

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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