Unintentional consequences

Post #61,365 by wharris2 11/6/02 11:40:49 AM Reply	Unintentional consequences Cases like this, alas, increase public acceptance of "mandatory sentencing" laws. Guy drives drunk. Gets 3, 4, 5 DUI's. Judge lets him off with a slap on the wrist. Suspends his license. Guy drives more drunk. Gets more DUI's. Judge lets him off with a slap on the wrist. (Note that the story says that despite all his DUI's, he'd only served 62 days in jail.) Guy finally plows into someone while driving drunk. Court throws the book at him. (Which they really should have done half a dozen DUI's ago.) Public gets annoyed. "Why did he only have 62 days in jail?" Legislature passes mandatory "after three DUI's, minimum of 90 days in jail" law. Public applauds. Legislature thinks, "Hey, the people loved it. Let's go after more slap-on-the-wrist crimes." Legislature passes poorly thought out 3-strike or other mandatory sentencing laws that lead to some poor slob getting life in prison for shoplifting a $20 camera. Sigh. What is really shocking to me, moreso even than this guy's 13 DUI's, is the number of "We defend DUI" lawyer advertisements you'll find in a Google search. (I was looking for the wreck I remembered involving a bus that killed 27 people - but I went through something like 4 pages, mostly lawyer sites, before I found an article about it.) Yes, there are times when medical disability (diabetes or something) can produce effects that look like alcohol. There are borderline DUI's, times when police don't follow proper procedure, etc. But those are fairly rare. A lawyer advertising that he defends DUI's makes sharks look downright respectable.
Post #61,374 by inthane-chan 11/6/02 12:13:59 PM Reply	Hey! Sharks ARE respectable. They're bloodthirsty predators, but at least they don't pretend to be anything else. Unlike a certain other species I could mention... End of world rescheduled for day after tomorrow. Something should probably be done. Please advise.
Post #61,396 by gdaustin 11/6/02 1:12:27 PM Reply	Lawyer serves the time if offender breaks the law again.. Maybe after the 3rd DWI offense, the lawyer should serve the time WITH the defendant on 4th and subsequent offenses... Mostly what happens is that the family (wife, parents, girlfriend) needs the income of the slob and doesn't want to see him in jail for the rest of his life, so they hire a lawyer to defend. This happened in my sister's case. Her SOB, drunk-jerk boyfriend (whom she has one child by, and another on the way, won't establish paternity, and he DOESN'T CARE ABOUT CHILD SUPPORT EITHER!) did a DWI which nearly killed a family. Through draining grandma's lifetime savings, they managed to keep his jail time down to about 9 months with good behavior and avoid prison. Now, grandma is desperately ill and is falling on the mercy of the hospital system to give her indigent care. This guy desperately needs to be taken out and shot for the good of society.

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