A Permanent Scarlet Letter?

[bicker]

that's not the focus of the discussion..

I'm saying it should be. There is far too much attention paid to this as a controversial issue, and too little attention paid to toughening up prosecution of intentional crimes. As Cardaway said, "Jail time, every time. Anything else is a joke." Then our legislatures can move onto the more important problems we face.

if the drunk driver killed, or even injured someone, then their actions would effect the family, friends, neighbours of the victim...

That doesn't justify such draconian action. "Two wrongs do not make a right." No, absolutely not. The administration of justice must avoid making new victims, just to exact a pound of flesh from a criminal.

 

[Aidensmom]

i agree, but that's not the focus of the discussion..

penalties that extend beyond the criminal to the criminal's family.
just remember... if the drunk driver killed, or even injured someone, then their actions would effect the family, friends, neighbours of the victim...
and... if anyone is worried about their family being victimised due to this.. then all they need to do is NOT drink-drive.. simple.

Have you ever known someone who had an alcoholic family member (and they tend to be the people who get multiple DUI's)? Believe me, their families already suffer much more than they should have to, there is no reason for the legal system to punish the families further.

Many 1 time DUI offenders are very young adults who have used bad judgement and learn from their mistake. Penalties these days for a DUI are much harsher than they were years ago. A first time offender is not going to pay a $100 fine and be done with it. There is enough "punishment" (fines, jail time/high bond amounts, community service, license suspension) to deter a first time offender who drank and drove because of bad judgement. The multiple offenders tend to be someone with an alcohol problem, and many are going to drink and drive whether or not their family is humiliated by a license plate, whether or not their kids have as much food on the table as they need, and whether or not they even have a driver's license. Effort needs to be made to help these people with their alcohol problem if we truly want the incidences of DUI's to decrease.

 

[lillygator]

I think they should do this for drunk drivers as well as sexual offenders.....

 

[lillygator]

Effort needs to be made to help these people with their alcohol problem if we truly want the incidences of DUI's to decrease.

Effort on who's part?

 

[DawnCt1]

My point is that there are far more egregious crimes for which we aren't applying such draconian penalties -- penalties that extend beyond the criminal to the criminal's family.

Exactly.

 

[DawnCt1]

The comment about the spouse driving the car with the special plates to a job interview...I really don't think most employers even see the cars that their interviewee's drive - and besides if they were the guilty party they would have to admit it on their application anyway. Any job I ever interviewed for wanted to know if you had been convicted of any crime - misdermeanor or otherwise.

Most job applications ask if the applicant has ever been convicted of a felony. I have never seen misdemeanor on any application, including McDonalds.

 

[drgnfly30]

I have known people to be killed by a drunk driver & I agree that not enough is done to prevent repeat offenders....

BUT I have a problem with the license plate... DH & I shared a car for years... so if he got a DUI, I'd be stigmatised because I drove the car with the red license plate????

 

[Dan Murfman]

According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2004, 16,694 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes - an average of one almost every half-hour. These deaths constituted approximately 39 percent of the 42,636 total traffic fatalities

 

[kydisneyfans]

A permanent scarlet letter is better than permanently dead.

 

[bicker]

I don't think anyone suggested killing folks for committing DUI.

 

[sweet angel]

According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2004, 16,694 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes - an average of one almost every half-hour. These deaths constituted approximately 39 percent of the 42,636 total traffic fatalities

Does a red license plate make those statistics lower? Or would perhaps mandatory rehab/counseling/probation/jail time lower the statistics?

 

[kbkids]

True story - 22-year-old goes out with friends to celebrate college graduation. Gets pulled over for speeding, police officer smells alcohol, breathalizer tests reveals 0.01 over the limit. Goes to jail - luckily released with no bond as another police officer was friends with individual - goes to court - sentenced to one-year probation, fines that took over 5 years to pay off, community service for one year, licensed suspended for one year, breathalizer machine installed on vehicle for one year, had to attend AA meetings weekly for one year - scared the *** out of the individual. Stayed depressed with suicidal thoughts for several months.

Fast forward 16 years later - individual detests alcohol, still has to mention incident on every job application, volunteer application for child's school, etc., so the reminder is always there. Is this something that the entire family should have to be dealing with now out of the blue?

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

True story - 22-year-old goes out with friends to celebrate college graduation. Gets pulled over for speeding, police officer smells alcohol, breathalizer tests reveals 0.01 over the limit. Goes to jail - luckily released with no bond as another police officer was friends with individual - goes to court - sentenced to one-year probation, fines that took over 5 years to pay off, community service for one year, licensed suspended for one year, breathalizer machine installed on vehicle for one year, had to attend AA meetings weekly for one year - scared the *** out of the individual. Stayed depressed with suicidal thoughts for several months.

Fast forward 16 years later - individual detests alcohol, still has to mention incident on every job application, volunteer application for child's school, etc., so the reminder is always there. Is this something that the entire family should have to be dealing with now out of the blue?

Obviously the laws are tougher in your state. My DH friends son had to have 2 DUI's before he did a weekend in jail, 3 months probation, and 3 months with a breathalizer. I don't think it bothers him a bit - he makes good money but is still paying on the attorney fees. He didn't lose his license til DUI #3 and then went to California and got a DL there.

I can't imagine that the individual you mention still has to put this on a job application or a volunteer application after 16 years.

 

[kbkids]

I can't imagine that the individual you mention still has to put this on a job application or a volunteer application after 16 years.

Yup - certainly does. Subs at preschool, knows the director personally, so just told her instead of putting it on the application to see if it would still show up when they ran background check. Still there.

 

[jenm2878]

It's only for the suspension time frame though, not for life.

ETA: Sorry, what I meant to type is that IN OHIO the different plates are only for the suspension time frame.

 

[kbkids]

It's only for the suspension time frame though, not for life.

That I can see and don't have a problem with.




Edited to say, that I just thought of something though. I go to church with one of the sweetest ladies you could ever meet. She teaches 3-yr-old Sunday School, choir on Wednesday night - volunteers FREQUENTLY at her DD's school - really awesome, upstanding lady. Her husband - well, he makes a lot of money, which enables her to be a SAHM, and that's about the only good thing I can say about him. Criticizes her constatntly for going to church, rarely is involved in DD's life - you get the picture. About six months ago, I noticed his name in the DUI section in our newspaper. I never mentioned it to her, but I do know that he lost his license (don't know for how long), because she mentioned the other day about having to take him somewhere because he couldn't drive right now. So, should her car have to carry this license plate too?

I see the point behind it, but not sure if it's the right way to go about it. Maybe have to have a "red" ID since even though your license may be suspended, you're still going to have to have some type of ID, so mark that in some way.

 

[Dan Murfman]

Does a red license plate make those statistics lower? Or would perhaps mandatory rehab/counseling/probation/jail time lower the statistics?

I just happened up this statstic last week and was surprised at how high it was. I really offered no opinion on whether the red license plate was a good or bad idea. I just thought some people might be interested to know that roughly every 30 minutes someone is killed by a drunk driver.

 

[sweet angel]

I just happened up this statstic last week and was surprised at how high it was. I really offered no opinion on whether the red license plate was a good or bad idea. I just thought some people might be interested to know that roughly every 30 minutes someone is killed by a drunk driver.

I was just asking a question. I wasn't jumping on you.

 

[jenm2878]

I work in an office where at least four people have gotten a DUI. Everyone in the office is college educated and a professional. Each person made a mistake, paid their debt to society, and have not driven drunk again. In my profession, we often go out of the office to do fieldwork at client's offices. I can't imagine what would happen if four people pulled into a client's office with red license plates. Now I know that each person "did it to themselves," but they also made an error in judgement that was never repeated. Should they all lose their jobs, waste their educations, and become unproductive members of society because of a MISTAKE? No, I don't think so. I have a friend who has had 5 DUI's. Now HE needs to have lights and sirens on his car to warn people he's coming, IMO. A first offense person should not be punished for life, multiple offenses cause the rules to change. JMHO.

 

[barkley]

True story - 22-year-old goes out with friends to celebrate college graduation. Gets pulled over for speeding, police officer smells alcohol, breathalizer tests reveals 0.01 over the limit. Goes to jail - luckily released with no bond as another police officer was friends with individual - goes to court - sentenced to one-year probation, fines that took over 5 years to pay off, community service for one year, licensed suspended for one year, breathalizer machine installed on vehicle for one year, had to attend AA meetings weekly for one year - scared the *** out of the individual. Stayed depressed with suicidal thoughts for several months.

Fast forward 16 years later - individual detests alcohol, still has to mention incident on every job application, volunteer application for child's school, etc., so the reminder is always there. Is this something that the entire family should have to be dealing with now out of the blue?

tue story-18 year old girl driving to back from holiday vacation to college dorm. a "first time" drunk driver who entered the freeway and is traveling in the wrong direction hits her head on. girl is on life support for 3 days until her family makes the agonizing decision to "let her go".

fast forward 25 years (if fact 25 years this week). family is still traumatized, mother has been hospitalized repeated times for depression and suicidal thoughts, siblings have extensive emotional problems including loss and abandonment issues...

i'm not trying to be flippant about this-this happened to a good friend of mine a year ago this week-it tore her family apart the ALWAYS have to deal with it, every minute of every day.

i hardly think if this type of law passed it would be retroactive 25 years-however if i had (or a friend had) experienced this life altering brush with the law i would hope it would have always been out in the open with my family,not something kept hidden away. i would like to believe i could share it with my spouse, kids...as a learning experience that fortunatly did not cost someone elses life.

p.s.-your post sez the person was pulled over for speeding-so in actuality the individual was breaking not one but two laws (and i suspect with such a harsh sentencing there was more to their driving record than you've shared).