AZ Wants DUI's in Newspaper

Group Wants Names of DUI Offenders
Published by Media

Oct. 8, 2003 11:25 AM

Associated Press

A coalition of law enforcement and traffic safety advocates wants the Arizona Legislature to pass a law requiring drunken drivers to pay to have their names published in the local newspaper.

The group plans to push for the law during the next regular legislative session, which begins in January.

Some lawmakers said they welcome any proposal that helps encourage people to think twice before getting behind the wheel after drinking too much.

"I want to get those buggers off the streets," said Sen. Marilyn Jarrett, R-Mesa, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But others said using the state's power to force defendants to pay publishing costs could create an inappropriate commercial relationship with newspapers.

"If newspapers are publishing the information as a (public) service, that's fine," said House Speaker Pro Tem Bob Robson, R-Chandler. "But when that becomes an advertisement, it changes the journalistic mission of a newspaper."

Some civil libertarians also said they are concerned that publishing lists of misdemeanor convictions are an undue invasion of a defendant's privacy.

Pamela Sutherland, legal director of the Arizona chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Internet means media lists receive much wider attention.

"I think you can see problems arising, for example, if you have someone wrongly convicted for DUI and wasn't drunk, who then winds up having his or her name and image spread all over the state of Arizona," Sutherland said.