Gov. George Ryan is calling on judges and lawmakers to consider more
stringent measures to curb drunken driving in the wake of a Daily Herald
analysis that shows thousands of people have multiple driving under the
influence convictions on their records.
The governor's ideas range from making treatment or counseling a mandatory
part of DUI sentencing to rethinking laws that allow the overwhelming
majority of first-time offenders to wipe their records clean through court
supervision.
As secretary of state, Ryan successfully lobbied lawmakers to lower
Illinois' blood-alcohol limit for DUI convictions from .10 to .08. Despite
that move's intent of getting tough on drunken driving, Ryan said he is
outraged at the court system's treatment of multiple offenders.
"I've seen guys that drive to the courthourse (and) go before the judge for
a drunk driving charge with a license that's been ... suspended or revoked,"
Ryan said. "They walk out of the courthouse after seeing the judge, get in
their car and drive away.
"The judge ought to ask him 'How'd you get here today? How are you leaving
here today, and who's driving?' "
Ryan's anecdote underscores what the newspaper study found:
- 5,386 drivers who had two or more drunken driving convictions on their records between 1996 and 1999.
- More than 160 people had five or more DUI convictions.
- More than 185,049 drivers have logged more than one conviction or court action since record-keeping began.
"I think lawmakers have got as much concern about that as anybody has," Ryan
said. "Maybe your series will highlight that and bring it to their
attention."
For his part, Secretary of State Jesse White would not offer specifics, but
said the series will prompt him to pursue "tougher sanctions" for both
repeat DUI offenders and for offenders driving on suspended and revoked
licenses."
Patrick McGann, the supervising judge for the Chicago Traffic Center, said a
new, more intensive evaluation program for DUI offenders within the city
will begin today.
The program was tested in the south and southwest suburbs and will include
extensive drug and psychological testing as well as preparing a more
thorough examination of criminal and other records of DUI offenders.
He said judges have been noticing many DUI offenders who also are
manic-depressive or illiterate or who have a history of domestic violence.
Instituting a regular evaluation system to ensure judges are aware of those
types of concerns will help them in determining what kinds of punishment and
rehabilitation options to impose.
"I think this new process will significantly improve the problem of
recidivism," McGann said. "The judges will have more information and, maybe,
in those borderline cases, they won't give supervision."
In a strong majority of cases, first-time DUI offenders are given
supervision, a finding of guilt that is not treated as a conviction by the
legal system and that is kept off public driving records.
Ryan said it might be time for the state to rethink that process.
"Supervision in some cases is probably all right," he said. "I don't know
about in DUI cases."
Some anti-drunken driving activists have called for abolishing supervision
for DUI offenders, but McGann said that would be a "terrible mistake."
McGann and some other lawyers believe supervisions in DUI cases do deter
some first-time offenders from driving drunk again.
However, the supervising judge said he believes judges should be able to
require some jail time as part of the conditions of supervision.
"I definitely agree there are some people who need to go to jail," McGann
said, but added he believes probation and alcohol intervention efforts
outside of jail should be used more often in dealing with repeat drunken
drivers.
Reacting to the Daily Herald finding that a group of 10 of the worst repeat
drunken drivers habitually drove without valid licenses, McGann said he
believes it is time to consider stopping people without driver's licenses
from purchasing vehicles.
"We need to bring people in the automobile industry into the conversation,
so that we prevent people without driver's licenses from being able to
purchase cars," McGann said. "We know the revocation of the license has
little impact."
Illinois never has tied driving privileges to vehicle-purchases. People too
young or old to drive, for example, are not prohibited from buying vehicles.
But McGann suggested it might be time to consider holding auto salespeople
liable for selling cars to people with bad driving records in much the same
way some governments are considering holding weapons dealers liable for
selling guns to criminals or others not qualified to own them.
"Why is that a stretch? We have to look at this in a much broader way," he
said. "This is a societal issue and all of us have to get involved."
