DUI Courts to Appear in Washington State Universities

The academic rigors of the college life can be exhausting, and in order to balance out this mental exertion many students like to unwind with a few drinks. Whether they are of-age or not, college students can partake in the abundance of alcohol-fueled extracurricular activities that are available to them whenever they need a break. From bars to house parties, the drinking culture surrounding most universities is positively inescapable.

And with the ever-present notion of alcohol consumption looming over college students, it’s understandably difficult for them to resist. And when they do engage, their thin sense of self-control has thoroughly been ignored by about the fifth or sixth drink; the student who was initially determined to have a modest night out with a few drinks becomes determined to black out, instead.

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This ‘all-or-nothing’ type of drinking mindset leads to some obvious dangers. Firstly, it is dangerous to the student’s welfare: 1,700 college students die each year from alcohol-related accidents, with nearly 600,000 sustaining some type of injury. Secondly, the student’s academic success can often suffer from consistent, reckless partying. Finally, the possibility of drunk driving is necessarily higher whenever these activities become excessive. Because of these effects that alcoholism can have on a University’s student body there are new initiatives proposed by the Washington State Senate that aim to control the problems surrounding college drinking.

The legislation proposed by lawmakers would allow universities to host their own DUI courts with the specific role of dealing with student offenses. Currently, student DUI offenses are handled in county or municipal courts, but the bill – SB 5023 – would give the responsibility of dealing with these cases to their respective universities.

Many people are disagreeing with the bill since it allows the university jurisdiction over behaviors that typically occur outside of school boundaries. Most students keep their alcohol consumption off-campus, not to mention most alcohol-related accidents happen in the areas surrounding universities rather than on school property. People are insisting that student DUI cases still be handled in civic courts as they currently are.

At the hearing, there were also other statements that had made some interesting suggestions about college drunk-driving. Representatives of the law-enforcement sector claimed that most students weren’t as concerned about the legal ramifications of a drunk-driving incident as they were about their parents finding out about the offense. This suggests that parental approval might be a more potent deterrent to reckless alcohol-related behavior than the possibility of legal discipline. If this is true, then transitioning legal responsibilities from the city to the schools would be superfluous; if parental influence is the best way to prevent this kind of dangerous behavior, then the location of the court that a student will be tried in is irrelevant.

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Many in attendance agreed that parents can have the greatest impact on a student’s activity, so installation of an effective way to notify parents of their student’s behavior could help curb the amount of dangerous incidents. One of the most extreme disciplinary actions proposed would involve withholding a student’s diploma if he or she were convicted of a DUI.

More severe preventative measures against drunk driving among students are being sought since officials are claiming to see considerable increases in the blood-alcohol content of arrested students. Students have been known to binge drink (something the government considers to be at least four or five drinks in a two-hour period), but we are seeing that the student definition of binge drinking is far greater. The ‘2.5 drinks/hour’ measurement seems to represent a pretty normal social outing for students – the new definition of a binge is essentially whenever the student is so inebriated that he or she passes out.

This profoundly excessive manner of consumption is why officials are prepared to take more serious actions in combating the dangerous alcohol-related occurrences in college communities. Legislation like SB 5023 aims to control the rampant alcoholism on campuses and, although it may be imperfect, raises a lot of awareness about a problem that needs addressing. Until then, if your student is involved in a DUI/DWI-related offense, an experienced DWI attorney is the best defense against the legal disciplines resulting from such a conviction.