A woman was arrested for driving under the influence twice in the span of a week, and three times during a nine-month span. The police seem dismayed at a justice system that wasn’t doing enough to punish the woman. While this didn’t happen here in Colorado, it still shows the struggles that some people have with alcohol.
Here’s the crazy part: this story is 15 months old. And we just wrote a similar post about a repeat DUI offender just last week. These people are out there and they have real problems that they are struggling with — and throwing heavy punishment and severe consequences at them isn’t going to solve the root problem.
People who are habitual drinkers or simply can’t help themselves with alcohol have some serious issues that they need to address with extensive therapy, counseling and support. Jail time, license suspension and other life impediments do nothing to help these people learn from their mistake and actually confront the personal issues that are causing them to stray towards the bottle. When you think about it like this, increased legal punishments for repeat DUI offenders can be a hurdle that the accused needs to clear before they can even start fixing their problems. And that just doesn’t seem right.
Alas, it is the system we have, and we have to work within that system. Regardless of whether you are a repeat DUI offender or you have been accused of a DUI for the first time, you need to defend yourself.
Source: Chicago Tribune, “Repeat offender shows complex DUI challenges,” Ted Gregory, Joe Mahr and Geoff Ziezulewicz, Sept. 10, 2014