Keeping the poor & drug Offenders On the Road...

Latina · 03-26-2009, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Bills Will Keep Poor People & Drug Offenders On the Road...

One of the bills approved Tuesday eliminates a mandate that judges take away the drivers' licenses of citizens found guilty of drug crimes. Judges will still have the discretion to do so.

More than 14,000 Wisconsin licenses were revoked because of drug violations in 2006.

The other bill allows poor defendants who are convicted of traffic crimes to pay their fines and court costs in installments rather than all at once. Judges routinely revoke driving privileges for failure to pay.

State Assembly, Senate Approve Measures...

Full Story at Channel3000

**dgridley** · 03-26-2009, 10:45 AM

I'm not sure what effect taking their licenses away would have.. most would drive anyway. It's just window dressing IMO.

Allowing fines of any kind to be paid by installments is a good idea, so long as it's enforced. We ran into a situation where someone wrecked our car, was supposed to pay by court order, never made a single payment, and the court kept making excuses for him saying he didn't have a job, etc. Nothing ever came of it. Again, just taking away the license isn't enough in some cases.

Latina · 03-26-2009, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgridley

I'm not sure what effect taking their licenses away would have.. most would drive anyway. It's just window dressing IMO.

Agreed!

Quote:

More than 14,000 Wisconsin licenses were revoked because of drug violations in 2006

In other words... 14,000 unlicensed drivers on the roads.

Most people need to drive in order to work to pay those tickets, regardless that they should have been more careful & not been caught to begin with.

TheTodd · 03-27-2009, 08:01 AM

I agree I do not see this as a big deal at all, these people would probably drive any and allowing people to pay in installments probably will allow more fines to be paid. Also there has been almost no driving incidents that have been cause by drugs, aside from alcohol. Drugs may have been involved but it was usually always some other issue that cause the incident.

CindyLouWho · 03-27-2009, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgridley

Allowing fines of any kind to be paid by installments is a good idea, so long as it's enforced.

I agree. I have a relative in another county where the judge is allowing him to make payments on his fine. The court system there must be very lenient since they also let him choose when he wanted to start serving his time on huber for a drunk driving offense. They also let him do it a few days at a time and then out for awhile and then back in for awhile, plus they let him out for Christmas for a few days. I had never heard of a judge doing that before.

Latina · 03-27-2009, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CindyLouWho

I agree. I have a relative in another county where the judge is allowing him to make payments on his fine. The court system there must be very lenient since they also let him choose when he wanted to start serving his time on huber for a drunk driving offense. They also let him do it a few days at a time and then out for awhile and then back in for awhile, plus they let him out for Christmas for a few days. I had never heard of a judge doing that before.

Back in the day growing up in Wautoma WI i seen a lot of this type of thing.

I have an older brother who got caught drinking & driving twice in a year & both times he was allowed to sit his time on weekends & be at home all week. another time he got 30 days for non payment of child support & again did his time as he wished, usually choosing do sit a couple days a week, as long as 30 days was served within the year... ya don't see that happening too often. Personally speaking, when it comes to drunks driving i dont think they should catch a break.

SlowTyper · 03-27-2009, 11:00 PM

Legalize it, Drunks don't get felony convictions for their first offenses, as long as no-one gets hurt or killed. Hold 3 grams of meth, or 29 grams of pot, without coping to a felony.
Legalize it. It's all about the money. Kill someone while behind the wheel of a car. Don't roll over them five times, but be sober, you might get a ticket. Justice at work.

SlowTyper · 03-29-2009, 11:16 PM

My previous post Must have been Under the influence, of RED BULL, totally Missed the topic, getting better at this stuff, I Hope.
Linking the License to the offense IMO should be in the discretion of the judge, and not a Judiciary Branch Litigation.
The laws for drug Offenses are in no means Light. As so many of us noted, the courts have done everything to facilitate the paying of fines. And to no short coming have they noted the inability to pay fines, while unable to drive.
Unfortunately a good question for a forum would be "Do you believe, Suspects accused of crimes are getting good, or competent Legal Counsel".
We all want Criminals to go to jail, or pay fines. Yet the Public Legal System ( like so many others 0 is strained to it's limits.
Many are forced to take fines, or plee out to lesser charges due to infective Counsel. No one wants the Innocent man to go to jail, and really how many of us are Innocent, lot's just didn't get caught.
Innocent or not, in some ways everyone,, drunk driver to Drug dealer deserves their day in court. The license in their pocketer should not be in Jeopardy over an UN-related crime.
The State will have more then enough opportunity to take the License, if the Criminal is on Parole, or Probation like so many are , they need permission from an agent anyway to even have a car.
Hope My Banter isn't over whelming.