Working at a criminal defense law firm, one sees many different criminal cases but, one type sticks out: DUIs – or drinking and driving, or driving under the influence of alcohol or operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated or whatever you want to call it. Think about this: if you make the choice to rob a 7/11 with a ninja sword, than you have deliberately committed a crime and can be charged with armed robbery. If you decided to take illegal drugs you may not have even hurt anyone, it may FEEL as if you’ve done nothing wrong, but you HAVE deliberately broken the law and committed the crime of drug possession and being under the influence of drugs. DUIs are in a different category. The vast majority of people who are charged with DUIs have not intentionally broken the law. This is a pure guess, but maybe 80% of the population, with bad enough luck, could have a DUI on their record. For a lot of folks it only takes a few drinks to be over the legal driving limit and at that point once you’re pulled over and arrested, you will be entered into the criminal system and you’ll have no other choice than to start calling criminal defense lawyers or DUI attorneys, or whatever you want to call it, to defend you.

Almost all criminal charges require that there be criminal intent involved in the commission of the crime in order for the accused to be found guilty of the crime. Most people who drink and drive have not made the decision to “commit a DUI.” They’re normal people who have a few drinks and drive home. They make a bad decision; they misestimate how intoxicated they really are, and most of the time they really believe it. Unfortunately, that bad decision could cost you your life, or even the life of someone else. It’s an extremely serious situation that someone usually gets into after making what they think is a very small, simple decision.  “I’m fine. I only live a mile away. I’m just buzzed.” It seems harmless enough until you’re in a ditch or someone is hurt. (Quickly, just to add as a reminder, it’s not illegal to drink and drive. It is illegal to drink and drive with a blood alcohol content level above .08. That’s a really important distinction that you and your criminal attorney or DUI attorney should be aware of.)

It is always difficult to deal with those clients who have no criminal history, live a good law abiding life, have never even spoke to a criminal defense attorney before, then find themselves in jail for drinking and driving or a DUI. Drinking and driving, more than any other crime, deserves alternative sentencing; anything but jail. Jail is for people who consciously made an effort to break the law and commit a crime. Most DUI offenders are not criminals, a few of them may be stupid, but that doesn’t make them criminals. Take away the license, put them on probation, get them in a rehab program, make them pay restitution if necessary. Unless there have been serious injuries or a death involved, that’s as far as these DUIs should go. The important thing is that people DO learn to drink responsibly and understand the danger of driving when their alcohol level is even close to impairing their driving ability. A DUI attorney should always aim to get the alternative sentencing options discussed above for his or her clients.

For more information visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_under_the_influence