Assignment of Responsibility and Penalties for an Impaired Driving Incident1

Abstract

This study investigated the factors which influence assignment of responsibility and penalties for a hypothetical impaired driving incident. Each one of 156 volunteer subjects, recruited from three drinking establishments, read one of nine descriptions of an incident in which outcome severity and offender characteristics were varied. Personal similarity of subject to offender (driver) was varied according to subjects' self‐reported driving while impaired (DWI). Subjects completed a questionnaire concerning the incidents as well as information about themselves. The results supported Shaver's defensive attribution hypothesis in that subjects reporting recent DWI attributed less responsibility and assigned lighter penalties than did non‐DWI subjects. The results suggest that the predictors of responsibility attribution and penalty assignment are not identical and that the two tasks may involve different processes. The factors influencing penalty assignment are consistent with the legal penalty structure for impaired driving offenses in Canada and other countries.