The Albuquerque Journal started showing the mugshots of everyone convicted of drunk driving this morning. They started with 180 unflattering photos of folks who didn't beat the system. 120 of them were Hispanic or minority. That is two thirds of the total.
Now, don't get me wrong, if they were DUI then they deserve to be convicted, but these numbers seem to be a little skewed. When we were talking about this at Starbucks this morning some folks said it was because lower income people are more prone to be convicted of DUI because they are not as well educated and they drink more and that it is really a question of economic levels. Another person said that all you need is $3000 for a lawyer and you won't be convicted no matter who you are. Add these two views up and there is a certain logic isn't there? Well, maybe, but the numbers are truly skewed.
1 comment:
There is no specific answer as to why certain people are prone to drinking and drving. I personally feel that even though we have strict laws against DUI, people will not change their behavior because they will always do what they please at any given moment. My real concern about the city of Albuquerque is that our Governor is trying to take away peoples rights. Exaxmple, the smoking law that was passed which will ban smoking in all bars is ridiculous. He's more concerned about smoking in bars where as, the focus needs to be on what the bars are selling, "alcohol". Our city is saturated with drunk drivers because bars will continue to serve someone until they are noticeably drunk. Well there's a problem with that. Some people can control how the react to alcohol so to a server someone might look and act fine, but in the reality of it all they are waisted off their ass. My point is you can't change someones behavior by reinforcing it with bad behavior. Yes there nees to be laws, yes we need to have punishment, but we need to focus on what the real problem is, and not just try and take away everyones rights.
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