DUI Punishment Costs Millions

Tennessee: Scarlet Letter DUI Punishment Costs Millions

A Tennessee law designed to shame those convicted of drunk driving is not popular among some officials who now must manage the program.

The full cost of Tennessee's new punishment for drunk driving offenders is becoming more clear as local jurisdictions begin implementing the "shame" program. The law which took effect two weeks ago requires anyone convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol to wear an orange vest with "I am a drunk driver" stenciled in four-inch high letters while picking up litter on the roadside. This work must be completed in a series of three eight-hour shifts within thirty days of conviction. This penalty comes on top of a $1500 fine, a 24-hour stay in jail and a one-year license suspension for first offenders.

In making this program mandatory, lawmakers did not consider whether the public service requirement would actually serve the public. Local agencies estimate its cost statewide will top $2 million.

"The only concerns I have about it are practical ones in the cost and expense in carrying out the law," Bedford County General Sessions Court Judge Charles Rich told the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. "It's a logistical nightmare."

In Blount County, prison inmates already pick up roadside litter at the rate of 100,000 pounds a year. Sheriff James Berrong says the mandatory DUI pickup crew can't be combined with the existing hardened criminal crews because of security concerns and estimates the county's share of the DUI program's cost at $230,805. Three new full-time supervisors will be required to monitor the DUI crews 12 hours a day, seven days a week at a cost of $191,000 in salary and benefits. A new van with a "DUI Litter Pickup Crew" paint scheme plus fuel and maintenance costs will add nearly $40,000 to the total.

"I'm not convinced this new program will provide very much benefit to the community," Berrong told the Maryville Daily Times. Blount county handles 500 DUI cases a year, eighty percent of which are first offenses.

Source: http://www.thenewspaper.com/