Priority Indicator #22: Rate of DUII Arrests

• Total Rate of DUII Arrests
• Rate of Juvenile DUII Arrests

Total Rate of DUII Arrests

Contents: Background Information | Data Tables | Data Charts | Commentary | Download Data
New: DUI Arrests Data Map (Internet Explorer Users: zoom to full extent for best map quality)

Background Information

What Does This Indicator Mean?
This indicator measures the rate of arrests for driving under the influence of intoxicants by geographic region. DUII arrests are often indicative of other social problems such as high rates of alcohol and drug abuse, spousal and child abuse and declining economic indicators.

Referring to a specific time period and geographic region, this indicator measures the total number of arrests for DUII in the region divided by the population of the area and multiplied by 1,000.   DUII arrests are reported by the police department or sheriff’s office making the arrest, and not by the residence address of the arrestee, so these rates will vary greatly as a result of political decisions within a region.  Further, the jurisdictions of law enforcement agencies overlap in many cases, skewing the city-level rates for this measure.

Other Risk Factors or Indicators to Consider
DUII arrests are directly tied to the levels of drug and alcohol abuse, spousal and child abuse, unemployment and poverty within a community.  While the direct relationships between them is not always clear, when analyzing the rate of DUII arrests, these factors should be considered as well.

Political decisions also play a major role in determining this indicator.  Factors such as the ratio of police to population, the existence of programs targeted at reducing DUII’s or overall alcohol and drug use will all affect the rate of arrests for DUII.  For example, it should be noted that Monmouth is a “dry” community--that is, it is illegal to sell alcohol within the city limits.  This will obviously affect the rate of alcohol consumption and likely the rate of DUII arrests in the community and surrounding areas.  

Limitations of the Data
These data are reported by the individual law enforcement agencies within a region.  There is no means of verification that a particular agency has reported all arrests for a given time period, though these data are considered highly accurate and reliable.

Data Sources

• Arrest figures are from the Oregon Law Enforcement Data System (LEDS) Oregon Uniform Crime Reporting Program

• Population data are from Portland State University Center for Population Research and Census and the US Census Bureau

Rate of Juvenile DUII Arrests

Contents: Data Tables | Data Charts | Commentary | Download Data
New: Juvenile DUI Arrests Data Map (Internet Explorer Users: zoom to full extent for best map quality)

Presentation and Discussion of the Data

The table below shows the number of juveniles arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants.  We present the number of arrests rather than the arrest rates because rates are very low.