30 years of penal response to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs

Driving under the influence: screenings, offences, and criminal proceedings

Following an initial review carried out by the OFDT in 2013, the issue of Tendances takes a new look at the penal responses to offences related to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs since the 1990s.

Based on secondary analysis of data produced by the Home Affairs Ministry and the Ministry of Justice, the aim is to study changes in the number of tests carried out and in the number of driving offences involving the use of alcohol or drugs, as well as the nature of the criminal justice response.

Increase in the number of tests carried out, high penal response rate

The analysis shows an increase in the number of tests carried out by the police and the gendarmerie for both alcohol and drugs.

The response to these two offences is identical: a high penal response rate, mainly in the form of prosecutions, significant use of fast-track and simplified procedures (the majority of which are penal orders “ordonnance pénale”) and diversification of penalties, with increasing use of fines and alternative sentences, to the detriment of suspended prison sentences.