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These stories reveal that North Carolina judges pardoned more than a third of those charged with drunken driving. Using databases from the courts and state alcohol test records, the reporters show how many drunk drivers were acquitted in court and returned to the roads to maim and kill yet more victims. Young drivers between the ages of 16 and 20 were acquitted and their licences were not revoked. Especially in the coastal counties of Carteret, Craven and Pamlico, the conviction rate is less than 15 percent.