판결문 데이터를 통해 본 음주운전 처벌규정 변경이 불러온 변화 -재범발생율과 법원 선고형 변화를 중심으로-

Drunk driving laws are primarily aimed at protecting the safety of road traffic. However, as we are familiar with the dangers of drunk driving today, drunk driving has a very high probability of causing traffic accidents, so it is difficult to say that the act of driving drunk does not only threaten the safety of road traffic, but also poses a threat to the lives and bodies of others. The National Assembly amended the Road Traffic Act(Drink-Driving Punishment Act) to significantly increase the penalties for drunk driving in response to the national outrage generated by the recent death of Mr. Yoon Chang-ho. However, less than two years after the amendment, the Constitutional Court ruled that the aggravated punishment for recidivism was unconstitutional, and it was not until January 3, 2023, that supplementary legislation was enacted, and the drunk driving regulations have continued to change until recently. This paper analyzes whether the amendment of the Road Traffic Act to increase the penalties for drunk driving has reduced the incidence of drunk driving recidivism as intended by the legislator, or whether the frequent changes in the law have only increased the confusion of sentencing, based on court case data over the past 10 years. As a result, the statistical analysis showed that the reforms did not reduce the recidivism rate, but only increased the sentence. The results of the above analysis suggest that it is better to ensure that offenders are punished within the appropriate sentencing range rather than reforming the law to increase punishment blindly.