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Although every state in the United States has its own set of rules and statues governing the punishments inflicted on DWI/DUI offenders, there is certainly one statement that can be made about all of them–they are all becoming more restrictive. While some states may offer time off for “good behavior,” or work release programs to serve your time, others do not allow for either of these two possibilites. In several states, drinking and driving is considered a crime, but yet in others it is not, thereby denying you the ability to have a trial by jury, and leaving you at the mercy of judges (many whom were former prosecutors.) The consequences and often hefty fines imposed on violators, leave them fighting a system which does not permit much of a defense or room for plea bargaining. Defense attorneys may relentlessly attempt to point out the defiencies in the field sobriety tests, or in the breathalizer machines, but ultimately the judges (who are too afraid of outside pressures by activist groups) tend to side with the prosecution.
Obviously, drinking and driving isn’t something which this blog advicates, but the right to a defense is a constitutional right of every individual in this country. Unfortunately, this right is slowly being stripped away by states in DWI/DUI cases, and many people are not realizing it until they are left fighting the system which (contrary to any other crime) assumes they are guilty until proven innocent.
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