2024-02-13 17:13:42
The French Observatory on Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) publishes an inventory of the criminal response to offenses linked to driving under the influence of alcohol or following use of narcotics, based on data produced by the Ministries of the Interior and Justice.
An increase in screenings for driving following drug use
In 2022, 7.9 million alcohol screenings and 760,000 drug screenings were carried out on the road. Blood alcohol tests have been decreasing for two decades while tests following drug use have increased sixfold between 2012 and 2022. This increase results from new control methods put in place, such as saliva tests since 2008 which can also be carried out preventively.
Rapid and simplified procedures for an almost systematic criminal response
The increase in road disputes linked to driving under the influence of alcohol (CEA) or driving following using drugs is part of a growing desire by public authorities to respond to road insecurity with sanctions. . With a criminal response rate of 95.1% in 2022, driving offenses following the use of alcohol or drugs are among the offenses with the most numerous follow-ups, including prosecutions. These prosecutions are mainly carried out within the framework of rapid and simplified procedures. Today, the majority of CEA or driving following drug use is the subject of a criminal order, a procedure mainly giving rise to fines or alternative penalties (suspension of driving license, community service, etc.). ). Criminal orders have increased significantly in fifteen years: in 2022, they represent 52.3% of procedures for CEA and 60.5% of those for conduct following drug use.
“The response given to these two offenses is identical: a high rate of criminal response resulting mainly in prosecutions, significant use of rapid and simplified procedures (including a majority of criminal orders) and a diversification of sanctions with increasing recourse to fines and alternative sentences, to the detriment of suspended imprisonment. »
The rise of alternative sentences to incarceration
Nearly one in two offenses for CEA or driving following using drugs are punished by a fine. Since the 1990s, the share of this type of conviction has continued to increase, particularly since the appearance of rapid and simplified trial procedures, more particularly penal orders:
– for CEAs, the share of fines increased from 14.7% in 1994 to 49.3% in 2021;
– for driving following using drugs, the share of fines increased from 32.8% in 2005
to 53.5% in 2021.
An increase in prison sentences for the most serious offenses
If fully suspended prison sentences are in decline, custodial sentences with a fixed sentence increased between 1994 and 2021:
– for CEAs, these sentences represent 9.0% of convictions handed down in 2021, compared to 6.4% in 1994;
– for driving following using drugs, they represent 7.2% of convictions handed down in 2021, compared to 4.4% in 2005.
This tightening is linked to the prevalence of offenses committed with aggravating circumstances (repeat or multiple offenses). Thus, the criminal response to the CEA and driving following drug use is polarized between fines for low-serious offenses and tendentially more severe penalties for offenses with more serious consequences.
• Trends n°161 – 30 years of criminal response to driving following using alcohol or drugs, OFDT, January 2024.
• OFDT press release “30 years of criminal response to driving following using alcohol or drugs”, January 28, 2024.
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