Individuals of high socioeconomic power and wealth often face disproportionately lenient consequences for committing crimes in comparison to the baseline population, or the “average” person.  Whether through legal strategies or monetary payments in lieu of jail time, the lack of accountability that powerful individuals face perpetuates disparities in the justice system between the treatment of the wealthy versus poor in the face of crime. By combining aggregate criminal justice data for DUI/DWI offenses in the United States with relevant case studies involving high-status individuals, this thesis examines how socioeconomic status influences the extent to which people are held accountable for misconduct. 

These datasets will be drawn from publicly available material in the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting program, and National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. To control for cross-state comparability, this study will use data beginning from 2005, when all states standardized at 0.08 BAC. The aggregate baseline DUI/DWI penalties for the US population provides a basis for a comparative analysis across case studies, which will be pulled from eJournals, including the WSJ, Forbes, and Barron’s. Analysis of this data will reveal the degree of correlation between socioeconomic status and the extent to which proper prosecution is faced. The results contribute to the broader discussion of how socioeconomic status serves as a means for wealthy, high status individuals to navigate around legal penalties, disrupting the foundation of equality and public trust in their own government institutions.