Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Dear Representive John W. Olver, It is important to arrest criminals and keep them in jail so they cannot harm anyone. But it is also important to distinguish criminals from innocent people just having a little harmless fun. When you think of a criminal, you think of someone who committed an armed robbery, murder, rape, etc. You don’t think of someone who was just having a couple drinks with some friends. People with underage possession of alcohol should not be arrested, unless they have an exceptionally high blood alcohol content (BAC). People who have been caught consuming alcohol should have different consequences based upon their BAC. The average BAC among fatally injured drinking drivers is 0.17. This BAC of 0.17 is about equal to having eight drinks in one hour for a 160-pound person, which is heavy drinking. Almost half of fatally injured, drinking, drivers have a BAC of 0.20 or over. These people with such BACs were very intoxicated, and deserve a harsh punishment for such consumption. However, people caught with a low BAC such as 0.02 do not deserve to be subject to arrest. A person who has had very little to drink does not deserve to be punished equally as someone who has had significantly more to drink. South Korea has the following consequences; for BACs between 0.01% and 0.049%, there is no penalty. Between 0.05% and 0.09%, your license will be cancelled for 100 days. A BAC Greater than 0.10% results in the cancellation of your car license, and you will be arrested for anything higher than a BAC of 0.36%. If you are caught driving when drunk 3 times in 5 years or 2 times in 3 years, you will be arrested. I believe that people with a BAC over zero should be arrested, if they are driving. But the consequences should be different for people who are not operating a vehicle. South Korea’s consequences are fair for non-drivers because they are based upon different BACs, however I would make a few changes. For people with a BAC between 0.05% and 0.09%, a fine or ticket should be received possibly around $50. People with a BAC over 0.10% should receive a greater fine or ticket for about $100. I would lower the BAC to 0.17% for being able to be arrested. This is the average BAC of drunk drivers, and it is better for people as drunk as this to be in jail rather than get into a car and drive. Also I think that if someone under twenty-one possesses less than three alcoholic beverages, they should not be arrested, they should be fined. People possessing greater than three alcoholic beverages should be arrested. I think that these consequences are better than everyone getting arrested with any BAC because people will limit how much they drink. It’s very hard to make underage drinkers stop drinking, but it is a lot easier to limit how much they drink. People who oppose this may argue, “why not just arrest them all?” If everyone with any sort of BAC gets arrested, then underage drinkers who do drink are more likely to drink a lot because there is no difference in the consequences of getting caught from drinking one beer, as compared to fifteen beers. Usually when someone has their first encounter with the law, they will back off and realize what they’re doing. Many will learn their lesson from a simple fine, an arrest is not necessary. It is up to the national government to decide how they want to approach today’s underage drinking problem. The problem may be fixed by using new methods, but that will never be certain unless we try something different. I think that my approach can be successful, or at least more successful than today’s “zero tolerance” rule. Perhaps, if you agree, we can propose this to congress and possibly even make this into a law! Thank you very much, you may reply back to me at ndias@student.umass.edu.

Sincerely, Neil Dias

Bibliography

Prof. David J. Hanson, Ph.D. Sociology Department, State University of New York, Potsdam, NY 13676. http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/DrinkingAndDriving.html Copyright 1997-2005

Taylor, L. Drunk Driving Defense. New York: Aspen Law and Business, 6th edition, 2006. The Handy Science Answer Book. Pittsburgh: The Carnegie Library, 1997. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content

--ndias 01:26, 21 November 2006 (EDT)