Punishment Not Panacea

Drunk drivers--particularly repeat offenders--live in their own special world of permission, a world where they can drink and drive without regard to the rules that apply to everyone else, Municipal Judge Pamela L. Iles said.

“I’ve had cases where they’ve had as many as 15 to 20 drunk-drivings in their backgrounds,” she said. “These people are a tremendous risk, and without effective intervention, we run the risk of never being able to stop them.”

But doing so isn’t as simple as throwing them in jail or taking away their licenses. The solution, she said, lies in targeted treatment of those who fall through the cracks of traditional drunk-driving programs, as well as taking away their vehicles.

The programs available today, she said, are too generic and don’t address the problems specific to repeat offenders. So for the last two years, Iles has been trying to get a bill passed that would start up new drunk-driving rehabilitation programs in Orange County that target repeat offenders.

But she said she has met resistance from operators of established programs, who fear they will lose a large share of their business. Iles pointed out that these programs thrive off of people who are given the options of treatment or jail.

“Wouldn’t you like to be in a business where the courts enforced your business with jail?” Iles asked.

Two years ago, Iles helped write a bill that allows the state to confiscate and sell the cars of drivers caught with a suspended license for a second time. Although the bill is only in its pilot stage in South County, plans are being made to expand enforcement.

“The sanction for most people is such a hardship that they’ll do everything they can in order to comply,” she said.

Though Iles believes that enforcement programs are doing a good job, she said there will always be some who actively “subvert the system” and elude authorities by using phony names and birth dates.