Wednesday, July 1, 2009

When The System Fails


A New Jersey man whose driver's license has been suspended 78 times has pleaded guilty to his 15th drunken-driving offense.

You can read the rest here.

Some questions:
-How in the world?
-78? Seriously?
-Anybody got a better idea for a system that works?

2 comments:

misawa said...

I don't know about a system that works, but I've long been boisterous about DUI laws being little more than a slap on the wrist given the inherent potential danger. I'm waiting for a creative DA or judge to toss in a public endangerment or attempted manslaughter charge against one of these miscreants. Jails are for the true public dangers in our society; it's high time our legal system figured out that these fools are a little higher on the list than they are now.

Oh, and one more thing...

I'd publish a list of every judge that has overseen his 15 DUIs. That would stick in some folks minds come election time.

Anonymous said...

Maybe a "Three strikes and you're out" policy would be good for drunk driving: After a third conviction, the offender could be prohibited from using any motor vehicle on the road for the next 10 to 15 years (on top of a hefty fine).

Driving while prohibited should mean hard prison time.


And if we worry about a higher prison population driving taxes up a bit, why not start emptying out death row to make it all even? Like CS Lewis said, a convict who knows he'll die tomorrow is probably more likely to reform than one who dies in prison after a whole miserable lifetime locked up.