How is a straight up DUI conviction without another crime committed--and keep in mind speeding or changing lanes without signaling are infractions, not crimes--one with a victim? Who is the victim?
If an intoxicated driver hits or kills someone, that is not a victimless crime. But who is the victim if the person driving above the legal limit does nothing else wrong?
What I don't understand is that a friend of mine who was pulled over and convicted of a DUI is punished more severely than the woman that failed to yield and killed another friend on a motorcycle. That was apparently an accident.
She killed someone disobeying traffic laws (for whatever reason--talking on a cell phone, messing with the radio, just being inattentive) and got a failure to yield citation.
My friend with the DUI killed no one, yet his license was suspended for six months, spent a night in jail, had to take weeks and weeks of classes, pay an incredible fine, will be nailed more on insurance the the lady who actually killed someone, and will be subjected to extra fees every year by the DMV.
I never asked what my friend blew. Doesn't matter anyway. NY state makes no distinction between a .08 and a .3 or any other level of intoxication in punishment. That's another issue I have with the current system.
We have a place nearby where the illegals like to cross the highway from the Safeway to the Wal-Mart.
Although there's a light controlled crossing 100 feet away, they can't be bothered.
The other evening right as the Sun was in everyone's eyes one of these guys jumped out into traffic and ended up getting an expenses paid month's long vacation in the local hospital. He'll never be the same of course.
What did the driver do wrong? No doubt (s)he was going the speed limit in a car. If (s)he'd been walking along the road, there'd been no problem ~ well, maybe the threat of getting robbed by the other illegals gathered there, but (s)he'd posed no threat to them.
The conviction is the solution --but you probably didn't mean that. You were probably talking about the driving under the influence. OK, so you don't agree it's bad when someone's driving shows influence from intoxicants. Most of us do, and we've made laws to mitigate the problem caused by those that don't agree.