So you got arrested for drunk driving — after crashing into a parked police car, injuring the cop, making racist remarks to him, and then blowing .16% on the breathalyzer.    So you’re looking at, what…60 days in jail?  120 days?  Maybe felony drunk driving?

Not if you’re a judge…..

Cofield Accepted Into Alcohol Rehabilitation Program

Hartford, CT.  Dec. 8, 2008 - In a proceeding that took less than 15 minutes, a judge who police say was drunk when she drove into a parked state police cruiser — and who allegedly made racist remarks after the collision — was accepted into an alcohol education program today in Superior Court in Manchester.

Judge E. Curtissa Cofield, 60, sideswiped the patrol car in a Route 2 construction zone in Glastonbury Oct. 9 and was charged with driving under the influence and failure to drive in the proper lane. The state police initially said no one was injured, although the trooper’s lawyer recently told the court the trooper had suffered some sort of arm injury.

Still, Judge William Bright Jr., opted to allow her to participate in the program, which, if successfully completed, could lead to the erasure of the charges against her in a year.

The injured cop voiced his objection to the "sentence", according to another press report.  But Judge Cofield will continue sitting on the bench…presiding, incidentally, over criminal cases — including drunk driving.


(Thanks to Andre.)
 

I’m not sure if this is a sad commentary on our criminal justice system or on the values of society generally, but…the following is from a recent Washington Post comparison of Las Vegas slot machines and electronic voting machines.  I’ve taken the liberty of substituting breathalyzers for voting machines:

SOFTWARE

SLOT MACHINES:  State of Nevada has access to all software.  Illegal to use software that is not on file.

BREATHALYZERS:  Software is kept secret by manufacturers.  Neither the accused citizen nor the  government are permitted access.

SPOT-CHECKING

SLOT MACHINES:   State gaming inspectors show up unannounced at casinos to compare computer chips with those on file .  If there is a discrepancy, the machine is shut down and investigated.

BREATHALYZERS:  Software is kept secret by manufacturers.  Neither the accused citizen nor the  government are permitted access.

BACKGROUND SCRUTINY

SLOT MACHINES:  Manufacturers subjected to background checks.

BREATHALYZERS:  Manufacturers and manufacturing processes are not checked.

EQUIPMENT CERTIFICATION

SLOT MACHINES:  By a public agency at arm’s length from manufacturers.  Public questions invited.

BREATHALYZERS:  Generic models are approved by state government, based upon manufacturer-supplied specifications but without software information.  Individual machines are not certified.  Public questions are irrelevant.

HANDLING DISPUTES

SLOT MACHINES:  Casino must contact the Gaming Control Board, which has investigators on call around the clock.  They can open up machines to inspect internal mechanisms and records of recent gambling outcomes.

BREATHALYZERS:  No governmental agency exists for independently regulating breathalyzers or handling disputes concerning  accuracy. 

I guess that tells us a lot about our priorities.

(Thanks to Andre.)
                           

As I’ve mentioned repeatedly in past posts, simply creating harsher drunk driving laws and penalties and increasing enforcement has not proven effective.  The simple fact is that despite MADD’s hysterical "War on Drunk Driving", the DUI-related fatality statistics have remained unchanged over the past dozen years.  See MADDness and MADD Statistics Again Debunked.

Perhaps we can draw a lesson from our neighbors to the south:

Beer-Loving Brazilians Adapt to the "Dry Law"

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Dec. 22  -  …Six months ago, the government imposed one of the strictest drunken-driving laws in the hemisphere, what people here call the "dry law." Anyone caught driving with a blood alcohol content of .02 percent or higher (compared with .08 in the United States) faces a $400 fine, loss of their license for a year, an impounded vehicle and jail time…

The dry law, introduced in June, hit the country like a cold shower. Police swarmed the streets outside night spots in major cities, setting up sobriety-test checkpoints, handing out fines and seizing licenses. More than 5,000 people have been cited under the law, which joined a measure this year limiting the sale of alcohol along federal highways.

But it is difficult to say how well the new law is working — or whether Brazilians’ behavior has changed much…

The statistics suggest the roads are no safer than before. In the law’s first five months, the number of car accidents on federal highways in Rio de Janeiro state rose 17 percent, compared with the same period in the previous year. Injuries also rose, by 32 percent, although deaths fell by 8 percent, according to police.

Across the country, the picture appeared worse. In those five months, accidents, injuries and deaths on federal highways increased over the previous five months…

Einstein used to define "insanity" as "doing the same thing over and over and always expecting a different result".

Perhaps it’s time for a different approach, one focused on problem drinkers rather than on Draconian laws and unconstitutional procedures.  See my post Time for a Change.