DUI License Plates?

[Your Mentor]

Collectively, DUI's kill more people, no doubt. But a single serial sex offender will commit multiple felonys throughout a year. DUI drivers aren't acting as some twisted team. A single DUI driver will kill one person and then we lock them away. A serial sex offender, whether a killer or rapist, will get away with that crime over and over before we lock them up. The problem is there are more DUI drivers. That's because drinking at bars is a social pass time. And our entire culture is built around motor vehicle travel.

[SB 405]

Anyone care to comment on this idea.....

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4019971

For the record I'm not in favor of the idea because I really don't see it helping the problem.

[Fire1]

While it may or may not help the problem, I don't like their reasoning. "But a UC Davis Psychologist warns public shame has no place in public policy. Dr. Jessica Tracy says it causes people to continue the behavior because they feel there's no way out.

Jessica Tracy, Ph.D, UC Davis Psychology Dept.: "What we want to do as a public policy measure is make people feel guilt, where they feel responsible for their behaviors but also that they can change and become a better person."

Oh, I guess we should not shame sex offenders then by having them register and post their whereabouts to the world. I guess we are perpetuating the sex offending problem by making them think they have no way out. B***S*** While sex offender are bad in their own right, I haven't seen many of them kill people. At that point we call it murder, not a sex offense. I say do whatever makes people think twice about driving drunk. Who cares about "hurt" feelings.

[Your Mentor]

Actually, every case of serial killing in the world has been deemed sexually motivated. Read any text on serial offenders and you find that sexual gratification, whether or not there is a grizzly outcome, was the prime motivator. Former FBI profiler, John Douglas, has several books out on the subject for a start. It's hard to associate killing with sex for the average person but then again, I don't understand why some folks want to be tied up and whipped. Anyway, several high profile serial killers had records for prior sex-related violations; simply flashing was a big one. Andre Chicitiyo (sp?), of the former USSR, raped and killed over 53 young boys and girls (that they know of). He had been fired from his high school level teaching gig because he groped a few too many kids. He'd already killed a few before even starting his teaching career. Registering and posting the whereabouts of sex offenders was never a means of shaming them. It has always been a way of identifying them for public safety since they have the highest rate of recidivism of any criminal category. Every one deserves to know where these creatures live and they should know that the rest of us know what and who they are.

Shaming as a means of criminal punishment is a method which dates back to pre-Christian times. It still flourishes in the US but mainly for misdemeanor violations and only when they don't involve minors. For example, publishing the names of arrested persons in local papers is a means of punishment though it's consider a deterant; particularly when it comes to prostetution. This method started in very small communities during medieval times (stocks in the town square). However, and here is where a license plate doesn't make sense, shaming has always been a temporary thing which doesn't linger long. Shaming normally was of short duration. Both the offender and public just went on with their lives when it was done. Today, in a world where fewer and fewer people take responsibility for their actions, the powers-that-be spend a ton to shame people forever. A DOJ criminal history is a great example. We've had people apply for a bus driver endorsement for public school districts only to be denied because they had a felony conviction (usually drug related) which was over 20 years old. Society has taken a harsh turn here. A person in public service can end years of training and service just by uttering a word now. I don't think that's fare. Don't get me wrong. DUI drivers kill over 17K people every year. Far more than have died over 9/11 both state-side and over seas. In other words, more people die here in the US because of DUI drivers than all of those that have died thus far in daily car bombings and combat in Iraq. That's outrageous. Making DUI drivers wear a "scarlet letter" will not cause them to get help. And they need it desperately.

[Fire1]

I agree that it may not do that much to curb the problem, but I think their stand on the issue was a little too "humane". Your point YM was very good that many crimes are linked to sex and sexual offenders, but I don't think they kill anywhere near the number that DUIs do. Society makes a comparativly "big" deal about about a registered sex offender moving into their neighborhood, while not really thinking about the untold number of repeat DUIs that live next door and have to pass on the road every night coming home from work. The public raises arms when an sex offender gets off too "easy", but howls at officers stalking bars to catch the drunks before they do any harm. Does not make sense.

[bcjack]

I read in the Vehicle Code that a Judge can require a convicted DUI offender to have an ignition interlock installed. The CVC has a lot of gibberish, and the bottom line is, as I have seen, the ignition interlock device is VERY SELDOM required. Wouldn't it be an excellect idea to have it REQUIRED as a condition of probation for ALL convicted DUI drivers? I know they can be defeated/circumvented, but if they stopped any repeat DUI drivers, it would be worth it... :confused:

[Your Mentor]

New legislation regarding ignition devices is forthcoming.

[Your Mentor]

A delayed followup to my reply to Fire1's post. You are correct about the number of DUI related deaths vs. sex offenders. I also agree that officers shouldn't be getting slammed for parking on bars. I did it in my youth and was scolded by a sergeant early on. But there is no case law or legal basis prohibitiing it. There never has been. It isn't unconstitutional. We sit on drug dealer's houses and make arrests but somehow our society has decided that DUI drivers aren't criminals, even though it's a crime. You know how many deuces I've arrested who have said, with slurred speech I might add, that they weren't bad people? I've heard, "Stop treating me like I'm a criminal," so many times I want to puke. They are criminals. DUI IS A CRIME! Incidentally, I only sat on bars when I couldn't find anything on the highway. Regardless, I got a drunk OFF THE ROAD. I stopped doing it early on because of pressure from above asserting it was politically incorrect or unethical (why that is I still don't get). So, like my superiors, I crumbled under that pressure and stopped caring about actually keeping the public safe and started caring more about getting a deuce just so I could satisfy the numbers my bosses were looking for. The problem with giving into people crying about us sitting on drinking establishments is it basically sets some unwritten rules of a game. 'If you do that it's unfair' It's not a game. The odds should ALWAYS be in our favor. It isn't about liberal interpretation of rights. It's about saving innocent lives.

[retchp]

YM,
I once stopped in Lenwood, CA on a rise above a bar with a SGT. in tow on his "ride-a-long". I told him iwas "staking out the bar". He almost had a freaking heart attack. I assured him I was "just kidding" and left the area. I really was 'just kidding".
I too have never understood why we are not allowed to fish where the fish are???
BTW... we need to have breakfast again soon..

[Your Mentor]

Name the day Retchp. I had the Malin scramble the other morning with a farmer friend. I couldn't eat again for days. Holy *rap! What a huge breakfast. But man was it good. 41-40 and I have been meeting for breakfast about two to three times a week for the past several months so I've finally managed to get all the local slop houses mapped out (labeled in fun). Pappy Ganders in Merrill seems to be the best so far. Too much food though!! I need a nap afterwards. :confused:

Sorry, hi-jacked the thread again. Take me to Havannah.