Davis group against drunken driving considers DUI offender registry

Davis County residents who drink and drive might face more than just fines and jail time.
Those with two or more convictions could see their mug shots and blood-alcohol levels posted on an online "DUI offender registry."
At least that's what the coalition Davis Helps is considering.
With the rising trend in alcohol-related crashes and more than 1,700 arrests in the county last year, this database would create "a social stigma against Davis County residents who repeatedly drink and drive," according to a statement from the anti-drunken-driving organization.
The online database is still a preliminary concept. "We haven't decided where this is going to go," said Davis Helps prevention coordinator Brandon Hatch. The group's primary focus, he said, is a campaign to be unveiled Thursday to help people recognize drunken driving and encourage them to immediately report it to 911.
As far as a registry goes, he said, Davis Helps is still studying how effective such registries have been in three other states: Arizona, New Mexico and North Carolina.
According to University of Utah criminal law professor Daniel Medwed, "Registries and shaming punishments are becoming increasingly popular across the nation, but it's unclear whether or not they have the deterring effect."
Medwed also raised concerns that stigmatizing DUI offenders could only marginalize them more and feed into the drinking and driving problem.
Though the other states have reported success in using the registries to deter drunk driving -- Arizona even had a billboard campaign with mug shots -- Hatch said Davis Helps wants to study the data. There also are other questions to posting that information online, acknowledges Hatch. "Is someone who has multiple convictions of DUI ... something we want to expose or put on the same level as a sex offender?"
Salt Lake City civil-rights attorney Brian Barnard doesn't think registries of child molesters and drunken drivers accomplish the same goals.
There's an argument, albeit questionable, Barnard said, that a sex-offender list can alert a neighbor into knowing someone shouldn't be left alone with an individual -- "that makes sense, maybe. But is there a similar benefit in publicly telling everyone so-and-so has a DUI?"
As with other crimes, DUI charges and convictions are public records, but Barnard said there could be constitutional challenges to a DUI registry.
Legality aside, Barnard questions whether an online database is the best way of preventing drunken driving, something that already is considered socially unacceptable.
Publicly shaming people doesn't address the underlying problems they need to resolve to stop drinking and driving, he said.
And one recurring theme is the difference between what people know and do, said Susannah Burt, program manager for the state Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.
"People are aware that it's not OK to drink and drive, but they're still doing it anyway."
Burt's office disseminated the grants that helped create Davis Helps and 12 other organizations across the state. Those organizations, depending on their individual community needs, can either address alcohol-related crashes or prescription-drug deaths.


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