OTHER WAYS BETTER THAN MANDATED JAIL

A state legislator wants to mandate jail time for all persons convicted of driving while intoxicated -- even for first offenders. State Rep. Mike Schilling, D-Springfield, has introduced such a bill. The proposal was the subject of a hearing this past week in a House committee. Under Schilling's bill, even first-time offenders would automatically spend a mandatory two days in the county jail. A person caught twice driving drunk would serve at least 10 days, and the sentence would be at least 30 consecutive days for someone with three or more DWI offenses under Schilling's proposal.

"I know a lot of people don't like mandatory" sentences, Schilling said. "But this create some shock time."

Schilling is doubtless proceeding from good motives with his bill, but his proposal isn't the way to go. The trend toward eliminating judges' discretion by mandating sentences in law has gone too far already, although this trend is admittedly further advanced at the federal level than in Missouri courts.

The remedy for DWIs won't be found in mandated sentences that fill our jails to overflowing with first-time offenders. That remedy is much likelier to be found in something like another bill sponsored by state Sen. Wayne Goode, D-Normandy, and co-sponsored by state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau. Goode's bill, Senate Bill 18, would create the crime of aggravated DWI, with stiffer penalties for those convicted of driving with excessive blood alcohol content of 0.15 percent or greater. Under this proposal, the first offense after a prior DWI conviction within 10 years is a Class A misdemeanor. The second and any subsequent offenses within 10 years would be felonies, with the much tougher penalties they bring.

Other bills would let local law enforcement officials impound or require the forfeiture of motor vehicles for certain DWI offenses, similar to a program started four years ago in Springfield.

We don't need to extinguish the sentencing discretion that is properly vested in our judges. Lawmakers should look to these other bills rather than mandating sentences.