Each year in Louisiana hundreds of people are killed and thousands more are injured in crashes in which alcohol was a factor. Last year the 402 people killed in alcohol-involved crashes represented 49 percent of all highway deaths. Highway safety experts constantly work to develop improved methods to save lives and are presently committing resources to new, special DWI courts that both prosecute and supervise mandatory treatment for some of the worst offenders.
This fall, Louisiana will add three new courts dedicated exclusively to handling DWI cases involving repeat offenders and drivers caught in a state of drunkenness well above the legal limit. The new courts, created with funds provided by the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, will increase to seven the total number of DWI courts in the state.
The new DWI courts will be in the Baton Rouge City Court, the 14th Judicial District Court in Calcasieu Parish and the 25th JDC in Plaquemines Parish. DWI courts already exist in the 4th JDC in Ouachita Parish, the 22nd JDC in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes and the 32nd JDC in Terrebonne Parish. Hopefully, we will be able to help create new DWI courts in other parts of Louisiana.
DWI courts are relatively new in Louisiana, with the longest running one having started in 2006. However, DWI courts have been around long enough in other states to demonstrate that they are effective in rehabilitating the most high-risk drunk drivers. The goal of DWI courts is to rehabilitate high-risk offenders so that they stop driving while intoxicated.
DWI courts are different from and more stringent than the DWI diversion programs to which some offenders are sent. DWI courts work to reduce the likelihood that an offender will resume driving while intoxicated and possibly cause a crash that results in death and injury.
DWI courts are restricted to offenders who have pleaded guilty and served their minimum mandatory jail time. Participating in DWI court is part of their sentence. Only multiple DWI offenders and those whose blood alcohol concentration was at least .15 — well above the legal limit of .08 — at the time of their arrest are sent to DWI court. Multiple offenders and those who register a high BAC are often individuals who have a drinking problem.
Upon entering DWI court, offenders begin an intensive process of total abstinence from alcohol and drugs, must have a job or be in school, and participate in supervision and counseling that lasts at least one year. A team of eight well-trained professionals—including a DWI court judge, a law enforcement officer and a probation officer—are assigned to each offender who must report for BAC testing and urine drug screening on a regular basis.
Offenders attend frequent counseling and therapy meetings and must appear before the DWI court judge on a schedule ordered by the court. Probation officers pay surprise visits to offenders' homes and vehicles searching for alcohol or drugs. Offenders who stray from the strict regimen are hit with a variety of sanctions.
While the DWI courts are too new in Louisiana to have established a record of results, studies conducted in other states indicate that they are effective in reducing alcohol and drug use and impaired driving among participants. The bottom line is that persons sent to DWI courts are those who are more likely, without such an intervention, to get behind the wheel again while drunk.
We will be closely monitoring results in the new and existing DWI courts in Louisiana to ensure they are having a favorable impact on protecting the public against drunken drivers.
Sulphur, La. —
