Philadelphia’s attempt to curb the drunk driving DUI-DWI-DAI problem…
Sep 25th, 2007 | By Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. | Category: Blogs, DUI-DWI-DAI (Drunk Driving)Earlier this year, the Philadelphia District Attorney announced its new DUI Treatment Court. This program will focus on rehabilitation and education rather than straight imprisonment. This is exactly what we need to help prevent future DUI-DWI-DAI offenses in this country. In my opinion, prison does nothing but scare people. Education and rehab will change people.
This new Philadelphia DUI Treatment Court is available to certain 2nd and 3rd DUI-DWI-DAI offenders. The goals of the Philadelphia DUI Treatment Court is to promote public safety, hold offenders accountable, and help offenders be sober, responsible and productive members of the community. Philadelphia DUI Treatment Court will accomplish this mission through judicial intervention, intensive supervision, and substance abuse treatment.
In this program, the Defendant will be clinically evaluated for alcohol and/or drug abuse. The Defendant must plead guilty to the PA DUI. There will be a mandatory treatment program that must be completed. The Defendant must serve at least 10 of the 90-day or 180-day mandatory jail sentence. Thereafter, the Defendant may earn one day off the balance of his prison sentence for every day he spends either in in-patient treatment or outpatient treatment combined with electronic monitoring and alcohol use monitoring.
I feel this is a giant step in the right direction to help our country’s DUI-DWI-DAI problem. From recent times, it seems that the PA and NJ legislature want to make the PA and NJ DUI-DWI-DAI laws tougher and tougher without focusing on helping the individual Defendant with his or her obvious problems. The Philadelphia District Attorney and the other court personnel who created this program should be commended.
See the Philadelphia District Attorney’s News Release here: 2007-5-31DUITCNEWSRELEASE.pdf
The author of this Law Blog, Bucks County PA & Mercer County, NJ criminal attorney, Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. of Saile & Saile LLP, Attorneys-at-Law practices both New Jersey and Pennsylvania criminal, traffic violations, and DUI/DWI/DAI law. Check out our website for DUI penalties. We handle all NJ Municipal Court cases including DUI in the following NJ Municipal Courts: Hopewell Township, Ewing Township, Trenton, Lawrence Township, Hamilton, Pennington, and other Mercer County, Burlington County, and Camden County, NJ courts. We also handle lower bucks county DUI and traffic violation cases in the following towns: Bensalem, Southampton, Richboro, Newtown, Levittown, Langhorne, Doylestown, Warminster, Trevose, Feasterville, Warrington, Bristol, Fallsington, Morrisville, Yardley, New Hope, Holland, Washington Crossing, PA, and other Bucks County courts. We handle DUI cases in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery County, PA. We are located just outside of Philadelphia in lower Bucks County.
It is a nice program but I do see some setbacks.
The program is definitively economicaly biased, and therefor racially biased.
What will happen is , white professionals with health insurance will be allowed to enter a rehab program and get the help they need and poor minority people will have to sit in jail.
I really have seen our Nation going down a very slippery slope lately, for the past few years, and this type of program will just not work for the masses.
If the Law Makers of Pennsylvania really want to help the people, they would have State Provided Treatment Centers for all who do not have the health insurance to cover treatment, and enough room to handle all people who go throught this special DUI Treatment Court!
All this program does as it is set up now is give the economicly elite more fredom and rrights and brings th epercentage of minorites even higher in jail!
I thoought there is something called equal protection!