DWI Convictions

Every day twenty-seven people die as a result of drunk driving which equates to approximately 10,000 people a year. Driving under the influence is a crime when a person’s blood level of alcohol exceeds the legal limit of 0.08%. Standard penalties against first time offenders include: having their driver’s licenses revoked and paying a fine ranging from $500-$2,000. All drunk drivers should be imprisoned for eight or more months because they are likely to repeat the offense, they cause most automobile fatalities/injuries, and drivers can participate in rehabilitation programs while incarcerated.

The audience that Friedman is trying to target are North Carolina citizens, by addressing the issue, and revealing the significance of drunk driving laws to prove that there are advocates across the state working to help aid in prevention, and create harsher consequences for those who commit and have been convicted of this crime. Friedman’s article has a serious tone and expresses empathy towards drunk driving as it seems to be a topic of importance to him. It is almost as if he has been effected by this awful crime and wants to raise awareness and help aid in preventing drunk driving across the state. This remains clear throughout the article by vividly expressing the current bills being proposed to create these new laws and consequences. I chose this article by, Corey Friedman, to help me throughout my research, because of his seriousness and his empathy on the subject. I was also able to learn about current laws being proposed to aid in prevention and development of harsher consequences for the many who commit these crimes. Freidman has a great article, but I feel that it fails to represent both points of view among those who commit the crime and those who were victims of this crime. As for me, I have experienced both sides in the past several years.

A DUI conviction is a permanent part of ones driving record. Even though alcohol related accidents are on the decline, statistics show that a drunk driver kills someone every forty-five minutes. More so, fifty to seventy percent of drunk drivers whose licenses are suspended continue to drive. In 2000, alcohol related crashes cost the public $114.3 billion dollars! Drunk driving carries with it serious penalties from the court system and car insurance companies. One moment of fun can turn into a lifetime of heartache and tragedy. Therefore, it is not worth the risk. Possible prevention measures and solutions are not only for the law enforcement, but for the public as well. Drunk drivers face a hardcore court system, which is intolerant of DUI. Stricter penalties such as automatic licenses revocation, mandatory jail sentencing, vehicle impounding, and licenses plate confiscating are just a few ways the judicial system is handling the DUI problem. Programs such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students Against Drunk Driving have led the way to bringing awareness to society. People need to be responsible and supervise their consumption to ensure that they do not drink too much. They have a moral and a legal responsibility to make sure of this. It is always best to have a designated driver. The most effective way people can prevent driving drunk is to make a personal decision not to drink

Driving under the Influence is a dangerous trend and is known to cause many critical accidents and deaths which could have been easily prevented. Even though the consequences for DUI arrests are strict, they seem to not be effective enough. The toll of alcohol-related deaths, repeated offenders, and accidents is still rising, leaving the streets dangerous and families devastated. Over half the drivers arrested for drunk driving in the nation, are repeated offenders. I stand strongly against drunk drivers; They are a threat to themselves and society and believe that they should be taught a tough lesson when caught. Therefore, the charges for Driving Under the Influence laws need to

Mass incarceration is a major problem in the United States. Since the tough on crime movement that began to emphasize more punishment and creating new policies such as; three strikes law, truth-in sentencing laws, mandatory sentencing, and determinate sentencing, our prisons and jails have become overcrowded. The three strikes law increases the prison sentence of an offender convicted of three felonies or serious crime. Usually the punishment ranges from a minimum of 25 years to life in prison. The truth-in sentencing laws require the offender to serve a substantial amount of their prison sentence (usually around 85 percent) before they are eligible for release on parole. The mandatory sentencing requires a minimum period of incarceration that the offender must serve regardless of the history of the offender or the nature of the circumstance. These get tough policies have implicated longer prison and jail sentences and has reduced the amount of discretion that the judges, parole/probation officers and prison and jail administrators. These actions have consequently increased the prison and jail population, which causes an increase in money spent on jails and prisons.

This essay explains sentencing in the United States Criminal Justice system. The objectives of punishment in the United States corrections is to help deter crime and to ensure reoffenders don’t reoffend. Sentencing impacts the corrections system and society in a positive manor by eliminating offenders out of the community. Sentencing may include one of the following: probation, fines, prison, community service, probation and so forth depending on the state you reside and the type of offense you commit. Each crime committed doesn’t have a set sentence, therefore they are determined on a case to case basis. The main goal of the criminal justice system is to defend the community and serve justice. Sentencing plays a vital role in the Criminal Justice system.

Although, there is no evidence that suggests mandatory sentencing is effective at decreasing crime rate but ample evidence of its long-term felonious results. The US and other jurisdictions are an example of the ineffective results of this regime, choosing to decrease the use mandatory sentencing regimes because they don’t work.

Numerous amounts of research has been conducted on the effectiveness of the three strikes sentencing policy, one of the more thorough ones to come along examined three strikes policy throughout the United States and came an interesting conclusion about the effectiveness of three strikes sentencing laws. The study found three strikes law to be ineffective in reducing crime in a variety of areas. The study found that rarely are they concerned with being caught for their crime, this was further attributed by the fact that a great deal

To formulate the law, it was decided that the most valuable approach to reduce violent crimes was through a mandated policy decision requiring identification through past behavior of those who demonstrated clear conduct to participate in violent criminal and whose conduct was not discouraged by the usual concepts of punishment. Reed (2004) stated, “The overall purpose of punishment within the criminal justice system is to prevent the commission of crimes to deter recidivism. For this objective to be successful, punishment must be effective in addressing the problems and solutions for the entire system, not just in individual cases” (p. 502). In reducing crimes, various methods and theories are taken into account. Some of these methods are additional police, additional courts, mandatory sentencing, and increased prosecutorial resources (Reed, 2004). Because the Three Strikes Law varies from state to state, this leads to the many problems it causes in the criminal justice system.

As the 21st century continues, there will possibly be a developing public policy dilemma between firm determinate sentencing structures that have been recently developed in many states and the evolving social movement reemphasizing offender-based sentencing options. If the growth of alternative and restorative sentencing options continues on its existing path, the future will likely witness a growing separation between existing determinate sentencing systems and progressively individualized sentencing movements. Therefore, it will be the task of future generations to successfully balance the goals of justice and consistency within structured sentencing bases with the evolving emphasis on individualized rehabilitative methods to routine and

In 2013, 10,076 people were killed in drunk driving incidents. Out of those people, 65% (6,515) were drivers, 27% (2,724) were passengers, and 8% (837) were non-passengers (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). Over half of those fatalities (67.1%) involved blood alcohol levels over .15% (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). The legal blood-alcohol content is .08%. Drunk driving caused 31% of deaths in car crashes in 2013 (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). In 2012, 402 people were killed by alcohol impairment in North Carolina (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). These numbers, though they seem astonishing, have been cut in half since 1991 (“Drunk Driving Statistics”). Even though the number of fatalities has been lowered, that number is not low enough. Most drunk drivers are repeat offenders. Lives are being taken because of the careless attitude of the drunk drivers. Drunk driving is selfish; those who commit this crime do not think about the extreme consequences of their actions. In North America it is estimated that 1-5 drivers has been drinking and 1 in 10 is legally impaired on any Friday or Saturday night (Root). Many groups, including MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), are fighting to stop drunk driving. Unfortunately, drunk driving cannot be stopped. People will always commit this heinous crime. The numbers may go down, but unfortunately there will always be a number. The only way to continually decrease the amount of lives lost is to increase punishments for drunk driving.

The Urban Institute Study also studied the effect of a variety of Truth in Sentence reforms that were put into practices in the States for the period of the early-to mid-1990’s on their prison population. The study conducted a quantitative examination of crime, arrest, population, and corrections data from seven States that focused on whether State Truth in Sentence reform actually paved the road to changes in punishments for offenders who were violent and also increased the prison population. The study found that possibility of a prison admission given arrest for serious violent offenses did not automatically increase. However, the use of incarceration augmented in four States, but diminished in the other three. But, there was an increase in expected stay depending on the severity of punishment for serious

Some DWI offenders are placed into treatment programs rather than incarcerated (Voas & Fisher, 2001). In Prince George’s County, Maryland, a 28-day DWI detention program for repeat offenders was created (Voas & Fisher, 2001). Those offenders receive group therapy in the evenings after they get back from work release (Voas & Fisher, 2001). The program lowered recidivism rates by 75 percent (Voas & Fisher, 2001).

As we all know that there are many people dying or getting severely injured every day because either they are driving under the influence (DUI) or they are victims of those people who drink and drive. The United States is the country which has the most accidents caused by DUI. According to the article “Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Crashes”, the U.S has the most impaired driving accidents. Statistics in the article “Impaired Driving” show that around 10,076 people were killed in ‘alcohol – impaired’ driving in 2013 in the United States. Research shows that people aged 16 to 49 are the ones who are most likely break the laws of DUI, and teenagers are more likely to get into fatal accidents. Therefore, the government, and other organizations have invented programs to help these people and reduce rates of drinking and driving in the United States. For example, Reinforcing Alcohol Prevention (RAP), Criminal Justice Policies, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) etc. However, not all programs work the same way for everyone. To find out how to reduce drinking and driving rates in the United States using programs, we have to look at what kind of people are breaking DUI laws, what are the causes, and then we can find out which program will work better for a specific group.

Now a day, driving while intoxicated has become America’s deadliest crime. There were more than 11,000 alcohol-impaired deaths in 2008, sadly those death were preventable if we had more severe Laws against this issue. Drivers are well aware of the Laws and consequences against drunk driving, especially after destroying families due to their carelessness decision. Victims’ Families entire life are ruined because of the sudden death of their loved one, and they are never going to be able to reclaim their normal life, while the offenders after a few days in prison reclaims he’s normal life. As a result of our fragile criminal justice system everyday road users share the road with repeat offenders who are highly resistant to change their