SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS, AMERICAN STYLE

In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz declared sobriety checkpoints constitutional in p art because they were effective in reducing drunken driving. This repo rt reviews the scientific literature on checkpoint effectiveness in or der to evaluate the claim of deterrent accomplishments made in the bri efs supporting the police. It concludes that studies available at the time of the initial trial were insufficient to support the claim, but that more recent studies lay a better foundation for believing that ch eckpoints can deter drunken driving. The Court's definition of effecti veness, however, turns out to have been based on checkpoints' yield of arrests rather than on considerations of deterrence.