Excerpt from my December 12, 2009 blog.
You know the story. We have all heard it. A drunk driver causes a fatal traffic accident and it comes out that the driver has been convicted several times before for drunk driving.
People talk about it at work or coffee or worship. We wonder why someone like that is permitted to drive at all. Why can't he or she just get sober? Why don't they lock that person up and throw away the key? It's terrible that innocent people were killed by the drunk. We feel bad for their families. We talk about how sad it all is for the victims and how wrong it is that the offender was driving drunk again.
The conversation ends. We go on with our business. A few weeks pass and we have the same conversation again when the story is again in the news, this time with a different repeat offender and a new set of victims....
Diane and I are home for Christmas and using some of the time to visit with old friends. One of them is a criminal court judge who told us about an amazingly successful approach to repeat DWI (DUI) offenders.
Once they are in the program, repeat drunk drivers are not re-offending. They are no longer driving drunk. They are getting sober, staying sober, turning their lives around and no longer putting innocent lives at risk. Some fall off the wagon and drink again but none have been charged with another drunk driving offense.
The next time you find yourself in an ain't-it-awful conversation about repeat drunk drivers, you will not be at a loss to offer up a solution. Tell the people you are talking to about Judge John Holahan's DWI Court in Hennepin County Minnesota, and other such courts that have surfaced around the country.
Tell people that it doesn't have to be awful about repeat offender drunk drivers. A real solution really exists that can take repeat drunk drivers off the road by helping them get sober and turn their lives around.
These people were punished when they were convicted and sentenced for their first drunk driving offense. They were punished again when they were convicted and sentenced for their second, third, fourth and more offenses. Each time the punishment was more severe. Each time they offended again. Punishing a repeat drunk driver yet again for yet another offense might satisfy some people's notion of justice but it will not get to the root of the problem or improve highway safety.
That is not to say that the judge is a softy. As a criminal court judge he has sentenced numerous people to hard time. In lieu of going to jail, people under DWI Court supervision are required to do community service and allow the police to enter their homes and look around anytime the police want. Breathalyzer tests are given frequently to verify sobriety. Participation in AA meetings is mandatory as are frequent appearances back in court. Those are some of the many requirements the closely-supervised offenders must agree to before entering the program.
I invite you to do something that is easy and could help make a real difference in your community. Find out if your county is running a DWI (DUI) court. If not, find out who the chief judge and county prosecutor are, and send this Star Tribune article to them with the suggestion that they look into it. Additional program details are in this piece written by Judge Holahan for The Hennepin Lawyer. If you want to point people to my blog entry, you can use this permalink.
Your county court judges and prosecutors may have already heard of DWI court, but they busy people who hear about all kinds of things. A note from you, a concerned citizen, may be just the thing to bring this life saving idea to the front of their minds and prompt them to act.
Diane and I don't want to be in an accident with a drunk driver. Neither do you. Send the note, save some lives.
You know the story. We have all heard it. A drunk driver causes a fatal traffic accident and it comes out that the driver has been convicted several times before for drunk driving.
People talk about it at work or coffee or worship. We wonder why someone like that is permitted to drive at all. Why can't he or she just get sober? Why don't they lock that person up and throw away the key? It's terrible that innocent people were killed by the drunk. We feel bad for their families. We talk about how sad it all is for the victims and how wrong it is that the offender was driving drunk again.
The conversation ends. We go on with our business. A few weeks pass and we have the same conversation again when the story is again in the news, this time with a different repeat offender and a new set of victims....
Diane and I are home for Christmas and using some of the time to visit with old friends. One of them is a criminal court judge who told us about an amazingly successful approach to repeat DWI (DUI) offenders.
Once they are in the program, repeat drunk drivers are not re-offending. They are no longer driving drunk. They are getting sober, staying sober, turning their lives around and no longer putting innocent lives at risk. Some fall off the wagon and drink again but none have been charged with another drunk driving offense.
The next time you find yourself in an ain't-it-awful conversation about repeat drunk drivers, you will not be at a loss to offer up a solution. Tell the people you are talking to about Judge John Holahan's DWI Court in Hennepin County Minnesota, and other such courts that have surfaced around the country.
Tell people that it doesn't have to be awful about repeat offender drunk drivers. A real solution really exists that can take repeat drunk drivers off the road by helping them get sober and turn their lives around.
These people were punished when they were convicted and sentenced for their first drunk driving offense. They were punished again when they were convicted and sentenced for their second, third, fourth and more offenses. Each time the punishment was more severe. Each time they offended again. Punishing a repeat drunk driver yet again for yet another offense might satisfy some people's notion of justice but it will not get to the root of the problem or improve highway safety.
That is not to say that the judge is a softy. As a criminal court judge he has sentenced numerous people to hard time. In lieu of going to jail, people under DWI Court supervision are required to do community service and allow the police to enter their homes and look around anytime the police want. Breathalyzer tests are given frequently to verify sobriety. Participation in AA meetings is mandatory as are frequent appearances back in court. Those are some of the many requirements the closely-supervised offenders must agree to before entering the program.
I invite you to do something that is easy and could help make a real difference in your community. Find out if your county is running a DWI (DUI) court. If not, find out who the chief judge and county prosecutor are, and send this Star Tribune article to them with the suggestion that they look into it. Additional program details are in this piece written by Judge Holahan for The Hennepin Lawyer. If you want to point people to my blog entry, you can use this permalink.
Your county court judges and prosecutors may have already heard of DWI court, but they busy people who hear about all kinds of things. A note from you, a concerned citizen, may be just the thing to bring this life saving idea to the front of their minds and prompt them to act.
Diane and I don't want to be in an accident with a drunk driver. Neither do you. Send the note, save some lives.
