[Criminal attorneys are reporting FEWER DUI/DWI cases hurting their bottom line. (no crime no client)]
I agree. My former firm (I did crim. def. for 8 years, mainly DUI) tells me the DUI rate is down but still thriving as a business. The sleasy areas of town report far fewer night time drinkers in the bars. Of course, dom. viol. is up.
In AZ a (first offense) DUI will cost you over $9000 according to some of my old friends. Second offenses are MUCH higher if you factor in lost wages due to being in the Gray Bar Hotel for a long period.
I remember a point when they actually started allowing for reckless instead of DUI’s if the defendant, in nonaccident or endangerment cases, would consent to full on alchohol treatement. (in residential treatment, everything of a DUI but the “DUI”) the objective was to keep people alive all around.
Then MADD got their fundraising undergarments in a knot and the effort was discontinued.