The line between courts, police, jails and Mothers Against Drunk Driving is blurring even more these days. MADD now has court watchers and advocates planted in DUI courts across the nation. They stage demonstrations outside courthouses where DWI trial are going on, and expose jurors to their messages during trials.
For years, as part of DUI sentences in many states, judges have ordered drunk driving convicts to participate in MADD victim impact panels as part of their sentence, often under the threat of additional jail time if they don't participate.
In many ways, MADD dictates the legislative and judicial agendas when it comes to the way drunk driving cases are handled.
Reports have surfaced that DUI convicts in Bristol, Tennessee, are doing car washes to benefit MADD. One was held at an Auto Zone store last Saturday (below).
DUI offenders to wash cars for MADD
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — The folks in the orange- and white-striped jump suits washing cars in Bristol will be DUI offenders helping MADD.
The car wash at an Auto Zone parts store on Saturday costs $10 and the money goes to benefit MADD.
The Bristol Herald Courier reports the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office will transport offenders to the store, where their volunteer labor counts double toward their jail hours.
Sheriff Wayne Anderson said drunken driving offenses run the social and economic spectrum. He said there are between 50 and 100 inmates on any given day who are DUI offenders.
Anderson said a similar project has been done before, and the inmates "really enjoyed it. They felt like they were giving back."
Perhaps being outside doing something is better than being inside a jail?
The notion of volunteer inmate work is not new. In Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio runs volunteer chain gangs, where inmates from the county jail in Phoenix work outdoors, literally chained together with armed guards watching over them. And they wear traditional prison stripes too.
But directly benefiting a political organization such as MADD rubs some people the wrong way. Critics argue that MADD pushes greater penalties and then financially benefits from those penalties in the form of events like car washes and victim impact panels.
NOTE: The above is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of every attorney and author associated with this site.
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