7-2 Final Project Milestone Three

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Southern New Hampshire University *

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520

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Law

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Jan 9, 2024

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docx

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Uploaded by BaronSandpiperMaster915

1 The needs of the people are few when it pertains to drinking and driving. Keep drunk drivers out of vehicles and boats. Easy to say but not so easy to do. Start with lowering the average blood alcohol limit (bac) from 0.08 to 0.05. Sobriety checks are a good deterrent. Changing the laws would take strong lobbying from organizations to the courts. Even to the strongest court in the land. Another way to address the issue of drunk driving would be shaming people. In shaming them it would need to be the action shamed versus the person. To many people with mental health issues and that behavior towards them could be more harmful than helpful. This would start in the courts but would end up in corrections. Inmates doing a specific action in a correction setting such as writing the family, speaking to groups, etc .... A possible drawback would be accountability for this treatment working. With all branches of the criminal justice system working together, making changes at each level will help keep drunk drivers off the road. Currently targeting charges and punishments for drinking and driving. Boating, flying, and driving are all Misdemeanor B. Punishable by up to 180 days in county jail and a fine up to $2k. The writer believes this is too lenient. Misdemeanor A charges are currently punishable by up to one year in a local or county jail and a fine up to $4k. (Penal code Chapter 49. Intoxication and alcoholic beverage offenses, n.d.). Doing away with the MB charge during booking will automatically put the arrestee in a higher class of offences. On paper it looks good, in person it would be difficult to enforce without the court lowering the bac of 0.08. To start this, we would go to the lobbyists. I have been booked in as a jailer what is commonly referred to as regulars, repetitive offenders. They come to jail for drinking and driving once or twice every month or two. So, while the courts are still fighting backlogs, we are booking in the same offenders who drink and drive at misdemeanor B level and will incur more than a few due to the backlog of

2 courts. Then each new charge is weighed and convicted or dismissed or bulked in with another charge. This is the way of the courts who are also understaffed as our law enforcement and as our corrections. While we all work to do our jobs. Multiple slaps on the wrists waiting on that conviction. I would recommend, at a state level, a charge that would automatically keep incurring marks for drinking and driving that have them in front of a district judge at whatever level they are currently at. Other recommendations include zero tolerance to drinking and driving. Targeting underage drinking first. Setting up different locations to stop and administer field stops. Keeping the stops monitored and well publicized. This way the public is aware if they drive drunk, they will have to stop and talk to an officer or two. According to the CDC the first way to decrease incidents involving drinking and driving is to lower the blood alcohol level from the current national standard 0.08 to 0.05. Utah is the only state out of 50 to lower the acceptable bac limit. “This law was associated with an 18% reduction in the crash death rate per mile driven in the first year after it went into effect. The new law was also associated with lower alcohol involvement in crashes. ” ( What works: Strategies to reduce or prevent alcohol-impaired driving , 2022.) Another interesting way to inform the public is public messages. In Harris County Texas there are several small cities and the city of Houston. There are digital signs that are high enough for all to read that will give you the exact amount of people who have died due to drinking and driving. You will see these signs all over the Houston area. The local fire departments and TXDoT (Texas Department of Transportation) will also place vehicles at fire departments that were involved in drinking and driving incidents. All levels of law enforcement, including the courts and corrections are receptive to finding what works if it reduces accidents and fatalities. Deterrence

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