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View Poll Results: Should the penalties for DUI be stricter in Florida?
Yes 19 52.78%
No 17 47.22%
Voters: 36. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 11-10-2011, 07:40 PM
 
Location: North Pinellas
626 posts, read 1,342,270 times
Reputation: 638

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I am writing a research paper for one of my classes and would like opinions on this matter. I don't really want to offer my take because I would like for it to remain unbiased. Personal experiences and comments in regards to the topic are of course welcome.
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Old 11-10-2011, 10:51 PM
 
18,082 posts, read 18,674,261 times
Reputation: 25191
1st offense - .08 - .014 should be a misdemeanor with fines (percentage of income) and loss of license for 6 months.
2nd offense within 3 years - .08 - .014 should be a misdemeanor, fines (percentage of income), mandatory jail time not too exceed one year, loss of license for five years.
3rd offense within 5 years - .08 - .014 - should be a misdemeanor, fines (percentage of income), automatic one year sentence, loss of license for ten years.

.015 and over - felony, loss of license for life, mandatory one year prison with up to five years available for the judge, fines according to percentage of income, but not less than $10k.
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Old 11-10-2011, 11:53 PM
 
Location: FL
1,710 posts, read 3,124,545 times
Reputation: 1893
No they're strict enough already. .08 should be put back to .10. Less money penalty shoud be involved (that's all they really care about anyhow, you'd have to be a complete moron to believe thay care about saving your or someone elses life.

Less money and more community service not to be performed at these so called charities (half if not more of them are scams anyhow). Mow a senior's lawn, paint his house, buy some needy kids some food or clothes, get the National Traffic Safety Council or whoever runs DUI school nowadays out of the picture and Salvation Army out of the probation part. They are just parasitic government leeches anyhow.

Loss of liscense should remain mandatory and no work exemptions or slick lawyers watering it down to reckless driving either. A few days in jail even for first time is okay.

Mostly DUI is a victimless crime, but a crime nonetheless against the public, so do something for the disadvantaged public, not lining the pockets of the gov. and MADD sponsored agencies. Take the industry aspect out of it and make the convicted pay with sweat and labor to improve the community.
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Old 11-10-2011, 11:59 PM
 
18,082 posts, read 18,674,261 times
Reputation: 25191
Make any DUI a felony and the numbers will magically drop overnight.
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Old 11-11-2011, 06:04 AM
 
Location: West Central Florida
137 posts, read 405,965 times
Reputation: 387
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sgt. Buzzcut View Post
No they're strict enough already. .08 should be put back to .10. Less money penalty shoud be involved (that's all they really care about anyhow, you'd have to be a complete moron to believe thay care about saving your or someone elses life.

Less money and more community service not to be performed at these so called charities (half if not more of them are scams anyhow). Mow a senior's lawn, paint his house, buy some needy kids some food or clothes, get the National Traffic Safety Council or whoever runs DUI school nowadays out of the picture and Salvation Army out of the probation part. They are just parasitic government leeches anyhow.

Loss of liscense should remain mandatory and no work exemptions or slick lawyers watering it down to reckless driving either. A few days in jail even for first time is okay.

Mostly DUI is a victimless crime, but a crime nonetheless against the public, so do something for the disadvantaged public, not lining the pockets of the gov. and MADD sponsored agencies. Take the industry aspect out of it and make the convicted pay with sweat and labor to improve the community.
.08 is a good legal limit. I don't drink very often, but I can tell you that at .08, there is no way on God's green earth that I should be driving a car.

Please don't tell me that no one is interested in saving lives. Having dealt with drunk drivers for fourteen years, I can assure you that the last thing on my mind is how much money the government is going to get from the drunk when he is convicted. The interesting thing about DUI enforcement, and traffic enforcement in general, is that there are no tangible results to look at. For all I know, MY life might have been saved because some cop I never met happened to stop a drunk driver. Had he not stopped the drunk, I very well could have been hit by him. But of course, I'll never know that because the cop arrested them and we don't get to see how the alternate endings could have played out.

It makes my skin crawl when I hear people say that DUI is a victimless crime. People that say that have never had to scrape a "non-victim" off the bottom of their boots after working a crash scene. Saying DUI is a victimless crime is like saying that someone can walk into a mall and start shooting as long as they don't hit anyone.

There are more deaths attributed to DUI than there are murders. And, the majority of the time, murder victims are KNOWN by the suspect. Very rarely are murder victims randomly selected by their assailant. That's not the case with DUI. DUI victims are rich, poor, male and female, young, old, etc etc.

Would you be willing to play a game in which your name was thrown into a hat containing a thousand other names? One name would be randomly selected, and that person would be executed on the spot. If your name isn't picked, you wouldn't win a prize, you would just go home for the day. I bet no one that reads this would be willing to play. But, we DO play every time we get behind the wheel of our car thanks to drunk drivers and other people that choose to disobey the traffic laws.

To the original poster: I think that Florida DUI laws are pretty good overall. Very few people are jailed for a first offense in which there are no injuries and no property damage, however,administrative sanctions are quite strict.
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Old 11-11-2011, 06:28 AM
 
Location: Hernando County, FL
8,488 posts, read 20,538,220 times
Reputation: 5397
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxus View Post
1st offense - .08 - .014 should be a misdemeanor with fines (percentage of income) and loss of license for 6 months.
2nd offense within 3 years - .08 - .014 should be a misdemeanor, fines (percentage of income), mandatory jail time not too exceed one year, loss of license for five years.
3rd offense within 5 years - .08 - .014 - should be a misdemeanor, fines (percentage of income), automatic one year sentence, loss of license for ten years.

.015 and over - felony, loss of license for life, mandatory one year prison with up to five years available for the judge, fines according to percentage of income, but not less than $10k.
So a small woman goes out after work, stays out for an hour and has 3 beers.
Gets pulled over going home and blows a .15, she deserves a year in prison?

I really have a problem with the percentage of income fines, because someone has applied themselves in life and is better off financially they get penalized more? That is ridiculous.
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Old 11-11-2011, 07:00 AM
 
Location: Lincoln County Road or Armageddon
4,972 posts, read 7,155,695 times
Reputation: 7224
I'd like to see tougher penalties, especially for repeat offenders. Maybe throw willful endangerment in there, also.
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Old 11-11-2011, 07:43 AM
 
Location: Hernando County, FL
8,488 posts, read 20,538,220 times
Reputation: 5397
I wouldn't mind tougher penalties if it was across the board on all crimes. I am OK with someone doing a year if they blow a .15 if a person that stabs someone gets at least a mandatory minimum 5 year sentence and someone who shoots someone gets a mandatory minimum 20 year sentence.
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Old 11-11-2011, 07:53 AM
 
Location: Tampa, FL
2,637 posts, read 12,588,778 times
Reputation: 3630
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike1306 View Post
So a small woman goes out after work, stays out for an hour and has 3 beers.
Gets pulled over going home and blows a .15, she deserves a year in prison?
Are you telling me you think it is reasonable for a small woman to drive after downing three beers in one hour? I am not small (not huge either) but I can drink like a fish if I want to, and it's very difficult for me to drink beer fast enough to feel it. With three in me, I feel as though I could drive, no problem. But I know that is because alcohol affects your judgement and lowers your inhibitions and I would not actually attempt it. If she had three beers in her, she should have called for a ride instead of endangering everyone else on the road, or hung out at the bar for a couple hours to ride it out. A year in prison doesn't sound so out of line when you consider that she could have killed someone.
Quote:
I really have a problem with the percentage of income fines, because someone has applied themselves in life and is better off financially they get penalized more? That is ridiculous.
A percentage of income makes a lot more sense to me than a flat fine. Fines should be designed to be a burden on the one who is fined, and it should hurt a "better off financially" person in the wallet just as it does for low income people. Higher income people just laugh at the fines, I've seen it myself. A sliding scale would make them take it more seriously.
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Old 11-11-2011, 08:00 AM
 
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
1,457 posts, read 4,038,200 times
Reputation: 1479
Also add in there a mandatory treatment program on first offense, and I'm not talking a 3 day program or anything.
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