DWI Deaths: Is It Murder?

CBS' excellent news program, 60 Minutes, had a story about a district attorney in Nassau County NY ,Kathleen Rice, who has and wants to continue to charge for murder, those drunk drivers who have killed people. This is unprecedented as in the past, these crimes have been charged with manslaugher, which is accidental death.  Ms. Rice is charging murder, which if convicted, carries a much stiffer penalty (ie longer prison sentences).  

Ms. Rice discusses that the laws need to be tougher because folks that are drinking and driving think they can get away with it without too much penalty.  This law would make them think twice, hopefully getting yet another drunk driver off the streets.  

I believe that the families of the victims of these crimes would tend to agree with this.  Their lives are affected forever due to a drunk driver.  The penalty does not currently seem appropriate for a convicted driver when they get only a few years in jail for causing the death of another person.  An interesting statistic would be to see how many DWI (Driving While under the Influence) arrests are repeat offenders.  This statistic should give us a good indication of whether or not the current laws and their penalties are acting as deterrent.  The 60 Minutes article begins by stating that even though there is more awareness and education, the DWI convictions have not gone down.  This would lead me to believe that the current laws are perhaps too lenient.  Here is the transcript of the 60 Minutes piece. 

Tougher Drunk Driving Law in IL

At the beginning of 2009, Illinois passed a tougher law and joins other states like Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska in madating the installation of a breathalzyer in the autos of those that have been convicted of a DUI.  This device will not allow a person to start their car if the device identifies that the driver's blood alcohol levels are above .0024% (in IL, the legal limit is .08%).   

The article goes on to say that the full cost of the installation, and the rental fees (about $100 per month) will all be the responsibility of the driver.  In addition, there are stiff penalties if the driver tries to circumvent the process (like getting someone else to blow into the device, or even driving a different car). 

I really like this law.  It makes lots of sense to help keep convicted drunk drivers off the road. While the law could be refined even more to, let's say, put the breathyzer in the car as soon as a person is found to be driving under the influence, instead of waiting until their license is revoked (currently there is a 45-day wait period in Illinois between the time someone is stopped and caught driving above the alcohol limt, and the time the license is revoked), its certainly a step in the right direction.    Here is the story that appeared in the Chicago Tribune.