A second chance, offered judiciously, can be a powerful incentive.
Washington’s deferred prosecution law is a good example. It provides drunk-driving offenders who are diagnosed with a chemical-dependency problem a way to turn their life around while avoiding jail and a black mark on their driving record. Successfully complete a program that includes treatment and stay out of trouble for two years and you’re essentially off the hook. Deferred prosecution has been shown to lower the rate of repeat DUI offenders, making all of us safer.
Now the Legislature has tinkered with it, threatening to undermine its effectiveness. An amendment added to an otherwise good bill that got final approval this week would offer a one-time deferred prosecution option to all DUI offenders — even those without a chemical dependency problem. It basically gives anyone caught driving drunk a get-out-of-jail-free on their first offense. Talk about sending the wrong message.
Snohomish County Prosecutor Janice Ellis and Conrad Thompson, chairman of the county’s DUI Task Force, are urging Gov. Chris Gregoire to veto this section of House Bill 3254. We join them.
The current system is already subject to manipulation, and this would make things worse. DUI charges are often pleaded down to something less, and some attorneys help offenders shop around for a chemical-dependency assessment that will keep them out of treatment.
HB 3254, ironically, at one point included an amendment that would have made such assessment shopping difficult or impossible. It would have established reasonable and effective standards for such assessments, but it was stripped out and the section on deferred prosecution was added. A bill that would have toughened state law against DUI would instead make it more lenient.
Ellis asks rhetorically how the public gains from offering DUI offenders an easier way to get a black mark off their record. We can’t think of an answer, either.
Public sentiment is clearly in favor of stronger penalties for drunk driving, not more loopholes to avoid accountability. The governor should use her veto pen to close this one.
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