I just read a fascinating article on Arizona Central – the online version of the Arizona Republic.  On today’s (November 19, 2010) site, Ofelia Madrid wrote the following article on a change to Scottsdale DUI law and procedure:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2010/11/19/20101119scottsdale-house-arrest-ankle-device-dui-cases.html

While it will never happen, Arizona legislature should give cities and counties the option to suspend ALL jail time under a first offense DUI plea agreement or sentencing order.  It could save the state millions of dollars without really taking away the bite of most of the current elements of a DUI plea agreement or sentencing order, and therefore, not taking a bite out of punishing and preventing DUIs.

It seems that Scottsdale is saving a ton of money in its trial run of using house arrest in DUI cases.  It appears that in the first 5 weeks of operation, the City of Scottsdale has save nearly $200,000.00 in jail costs by allowing people convicted of (generally) second DUI offenses or even first time Extreme DUI cases, the ability to serve some of their time under house arrest.

Scottsdale originally estimated that it would likely save around $500,000.00 a year, but already it looks like this program  is helping out the city and will far exceed expectations.

Now, just think if for first time DUI offenders instead of a minimum of 24 hours in jail with 9 days suspended upon completion of a successful drug counseling program that the city suspended all jail time in exchange for the already required counseling, interlock device, and MVD suspension, and fines.  When you add up all the factors of a DUI sentencing or plea agreement, the 24 hours in jail is probably the least burdensome.

Now, obviously I have to admit to the fact that I have never spent any time in prison and do imagine that if I had to spend 24 hours in jail, it would likely be 24 hours of hell.  But given the fact that such a substantial part of the jail sentence is suspended already, and given the fact that so much more of the DUI sentence is geared toward punitive retribution that does not make anyone’s sentence easy in any sense, that maybe the 24 hour jail time is something that we should reconsider and possibly do away with in the context of already substantial penalties and a crippled state economy.

Now Scottsdale officials have stated that they need time to evaluate the house arrest program and that 5 weeks is not a substantial time to evaluate the program.  I agree with this.  We need to spend some time seriously evaluating the cost/benefit of a house arrest, not only in terms of a governments budget but also in the interests of justice.

Nevertheless, I think the best thing that we as a state could do is to evaluate Scottsdale’s program and then to think of ways we can apply the concept to other DUI penalties.  If the 24 hour sentence does less for curbing future DUIs, then clearly we need to think of new ways to get people to rethink driving while under the influence.  Plus, rethinking those punishments, and particular doing away with any jail time upon successful completion of the other requirement of a first time DUI sentence, then the state would save a substantial amount of money and continue to reinforce the notion that DUIs will be punished, it won’t be an easy punishment (that is, it will affect your life in multiple ways), and continued violation of DUI laws would result in mandatory jail time.  I think, in that instance, the objective of the State in protecting the public from DUI drivers and crimes would still maintain its current integrity and at the same time streamline the system and save the state a substantial amount of money – such that the fines a person pays can actually go into the government’s general fund.

We all know the state uses the fines in the first place to fund certain activities, so let’s put that money into the general fund and use that money to help build up the state’s resources again…assuming the state won’t spend it all in defending hate based legislation…

Remember to call us whenever you have questions about DUIs or other crimes.  We provide a free one-hour initial consultation and are here to answer all of your questions.  Call us today at (480) 570-6591 or check out your Arizona DUI Defense Attorney here.