Floyd H. Schenk, 82; Judge Made Drunk Drivers Visit the Morgue

Judge Floyd H. Schenk, who sentenced young Orange County drunk drivers to spend time in trauma centers and the county morgue to witness the possible consequences of the crime, has died. He was 82.

Schenk died Nov. 20 of complications of Alzheimer’s disease at a Newport Beach nursing home, family members said.

The retired Orange County Superior Court judge was believed to have been among the first Southern California jurists to penalize drunk drivers with an object lesson.

In a 1987 interview with The Times, Schenk said the approach was a form of shock therapy.

“Very few people actually see the terrible, really horrible situation of people who are injured by those who are driving under the influence,” he said.

Schenk began meting out the unorthodox sentences as a West Orange Municipal Court judge in April 1987.

“He was not afraid to try something new,” said his wife, Berit.

The idea began with a Sacramento jurist, Municipal Judge Jeffrey L. Gunther, who had been sentencing youthful offenders to visiting the county coroner’s office and local emergency rooms.

Schenk was the first Orange County judge to try it. About two weeks after Schenk’s program began, a state law based on Gunther’s program took effect, authorizing all state judges to send young drunk drivers to emergency rooms and coroner’s offices.

First-time offenders ages 18 to 21 were eligible for the program, which also required them to write a 1,000-word essay on the experience.

One offender wrote afterward:

“I’m lucky. I could have been paralyzed or killed or worse.... I learned that human life is fragile, and it’s not worth it to take more risks than necessary.”

In 1989, Schenk was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court. He retired in 1997.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Schenk served in the Navy during World War II. Afterward, he enrolled at UCLA and then studied law at Loyola University.

He had a law practice in Hollywood until 1963, when he moved to Palm Springs. Fifteen years later he opened a branch in Newport Beach and moved there.

Besides his wife, Schenk is survived by a son, Joseph A. Schenk II, and a daughter, Gayle Bonilla; stepchildren Alida Lucas, Ellen Reader and Kenneth Mitchell; a grandchild; and two great-grandchildren.