Editorial: Three times and in (prison)

Friday, April 6, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

Clark County's chief District Court judge told a Nevada Senate committee that state lawmakers should expand a pilot program that allows repeat DUI offenders to avoid prison time if they undergo a strict treatment program and live under house arrest.

Chief District Judge Kathy Hardcastle told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that only 12 percent of the eight-year-old pilot program's 356 graduates have been arrested for DUI within three years of graduating. That is a lower recidivism rate than for DUI offenders who do prison time, she said. Hardcastle then called for passage of Senate Bill 277, which would establish such a program statewide.

Existing law requires that anyone arrested for driving under the influence a third time be charged with a felony and, if convicted, be given a prison sentence. Under Clark County's pilot DUI court, these offenders can avoid prison time and a felony record by being sentenced to at least six months of house arrest followed by a rigorous three-year treatment program.

Those who fail to follow the regimen are dismissed from the program, charged with felonies and sent to prison. About one-third of the participants are booted out, the Associated Press reports. Program participants also must pay for their own house arrest, which Hardcastle said costs about $11,000 annually, compared with the $25,000 a year it costs to support a prison inmate. Those sent to prison, the judge added, don't get help to overcome their addiction.

Still, allowing people to live in their own homes and dodge felony charges after repeated offenses is not the answer. Three years of intensive treatment could just as easily occur inside a prison's walls, and lawmakers should see to it that such programs are in place for inmates struggling with addictions. Offenders who want to avoid prison time and a felony record already have a choice: Stop drinking and driving.