Report from Sentencing Commission Analyzes DWI Dispositions in 2020

Recently I was asked to teach about sentencing in impaired driving cases. I thought the audience might want to know not just the law governing sentencing for impaired driving but also what sentences typically are imposed in those cases. For the latter, I turned to the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission’s Fiscal Year 2020 Statistical Report on Driving While Impaired convictions. There one can find information about the percentages of impaired driving convictions sentenced at each of the six levels of punishment under G.S. 20-179, the types of sentences imposed by sentencing level, average sentence length for active and suspended sentences, and the average days of special probation (imprisonment) ordered by punishment level -- among other data. Read on for highlights from the report, which contains data about convictions under G.S. 20-179 from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. Convictions under G.S. 20-179. The following offenses are sentenced under G.S. 20-179: Impaired driving (G.S. 20-138.1); Impaired driving in a commercial vehicle (G.S. 20-138.2); A second or subsequent conviction for operating a commercial vehicle after consuming alcohol (G.S. 20-138.2A); and A second or subsequent conviction for operating a school bus, school activity bus, child care vehicle, ambulance, other EMS vehicle, firefighting vehicle, or law enforcement vehicle after consuming alcohol (G.S. 20-138.2B). The North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission’s Fiscal Year 2020 Statistical Report on Driving While Impaired Convictions [hereinafter “the report”] included all convictions sentenced under G.S. 20-179, other than convictions for aiding and abetting impaired driving. The [...]