Issues Concerning the Adoption of an Administrative Per Se Statute by the Commonwealth of Virginia

About the report:

The most effective measures to deter drunken driving are legal actions that provide for certain, serious, and swift sanctions. An administrative per se statute that summarily revokes or suspends a driver's license for a DUI offense satisfies these criteria. Because the revocation would be imposed by an administrative, rather than a judicial, system, concerns about due process violations have been raised. Although the Supreme Court has never directly ruled on the constitutionality of an administrative per se statute, its rulings in other cases provide indications of what would be required for such a statute to be found constitutional. This report reviews the relevant cases on the issues of due process and double jeopardy. It also discusses the statutes and experience of states with per se laws and studies that document the impact of such laws. In addition to deterring drunken driving, enactment of an administrative per se statute would benefit Virginia by bringing the Commonwealth one step closer to qualifying for additional federal funds.

Authors