Getting serious about DUI

What would it take to make a significant impact on the drunken-driving rate in Utah?

The answer is simple. Do away with small-town justice courts and unite everything under a unified state court system.

That may be too radical for some people to stomach. In general, Utahns have a healthy aversion to big government, preferring to leave most official business to a layer of officialdom that is as close to the people as possible. That works in most cases, but not when the subject is crime, and particularly not when the crime is drunken driving. In those cases, government can better serve the people when it can grasp the big picture, and when procedures and punishments are uniform and consistent.

A statewide court system may be the only way for Utahns to grasp the full extent of the state's DUI problem. It may also be the best way to keep multiple offenders from being tried over and over again as if they had been arrested for their first offense. As it is, someone may be arrested one day in Riverton, the next in Midvale and the next in Murray. Three separate justice courts would deal with the same person without knowing what the other jurisdiction was doing.

It also may be the only way to get reliable statistics. Currently, many jurisdictions fail to report how many DUI cases they handle each year, let alone how those cases end up. As we noted last week, 15 of the state's 29 counties either didn't submit any data about DUI arrests last year, or they submitted incomplete data.

This isn't our opinion alone. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration sent a study team to the state earlier this year, paid for by the state's Department of Public Safety. Its report made the same recommendation. Do away with justice courts.

Justice courts exist in many communities statewide, including along the Wasatch Front. In most cases, the judges serve part-time, which means they also have other full-time employment in the community. Anyone who has lived in a small community understands what could happen. At any time, the judge may be forced to deal with a suspect who also is an acquaintance; perhaps someone who does business with the judge. While we don't doubt the character or professionalism of any sitting judge, why should the system unnecessarily create such potential conflicts when the subject is as important, and potentially devastating, as drunken driving?

In addition, the system raises questions about training and consistency.