The Washington Post profiles various local residents who saw their lives turned upside down, sometimes losing their marriage or livelihood, after being arrested under driving-under-the-influence laws which mandate automatic license suspension for first-time offenders. One woman had attended a birthday party after which she drove with a slightly elevated blood-alcohol level (0.09) which would not have constituted a legal offense at all until lawmakers ratcheted down permissible blood levels. (Lena H. Sun and Carol Morello, “For DUI, Personal Costs Are High”, Washington Post, Jul. 25). Soon the Post was fielding vehement letters to the editor accusing the paper’s reporters of excessive sympathy for these criminals. The TrueBeliever.org site, run by a California defense lawyer, has more, including a pointer to an organization called Responsibility in DUI Laws, Inc.. Radley Balko also offers a few opinions, with a big comments section, while KipEsquire dissents.
DUI laws in the dark
The Washington Post profiles various local residents who saw their lives turned upside down, sometimes losing their marriage or livelihood, after being arrested under driving-under-the-influence laws which mandate automatic license suspension for first-time offenders. One woman had attended a birthday party after which she drove with a slightly elevated blood-alcohol level (0.09) which would not […]
One Comment
Tobias Beecher: Criminal or Victim
UPDATE #2: Overlawyered.com follows up, as I failed to, on the response to the original WaPo article and has some links. I’m unpersuaded. See also my subsequent post on the subject…