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NHTSA/NCJA Criminal Justice Summit on Impaired Driving
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Implementation Plans: Next Steps

Once the priority areas and solutions were identified by all disciplines, each practitioner group selected priorities specific to their profession and made commitments to take action and implement next steps. Some of the items listed as priorities for each practitioner group may not reflect complete consensus among that group.  To the extent possible, all suggestions were included, however, to reflect the input of all participants.  The disciplines represented were: law enforcement, prosecution, toxicology, state legislators and tribal and county officials, state criminal justice administrative agencies, departments of motor vehicles, state highway safety agencies, state victim services agencies and treatment providers, public defenders , judicial educators, court administrators, judges, probation, and corrections and jail administrators .  The groups reported their plans to the entire Summit and to
Dr. Jeffrey Runge, NHTSA Administrator for response.

Law Enforcement

—Leadership

  • National leadership must be called upon to bring the DWI issue to priority status again.  National Leadership should include the President, U.S. Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and every governor.
  • The participants made the commitment to work on reducing DWI from the "bottom up," if NHTSA and other federal agencies will work from the "top down."

—Paperwork and Information Sharing

  • Local and county level law enforcement agencies should meet with prosecutors and agree on using one form for DWI arrests.
  • Law enforcement officers involved in DWI cases should meet once a month in local or county jurisdictions to discuss the technology and resources needed to build a "paperless" system.
  • Resources to purchase the necessary technology (hardware and software) to reduce paperwork involved in DWI investigations will be necessary and funding must come from every level of government in order to make this happen.
  • Resources are also needed to establish integrated information systems to facilitate information sharing.

—Training

  • Law enforcement will seek to make 40 hours of DWI training at the academy or entry-level mandatory, as well as ongoing refresher training on DWI for law enforcement officers.
  • Law enforcement will contact their state law enforcement associations to gain state support for quality DWI training.
  • Officers in the field will strongly be encouraged to contact their state highway safety representatives and ask them to make DWI training mandatory for all their grant recipients.

Prosecution

  • Prosecutors promised to take a leading role at the local level to reduce DWI incidents.
  • Prosecutors offered to assist traffic safety agencies to understand DWI laws, rights and penalties, for example how to distinguish the differences between probable cause and reasonable doubt.
  • Efforts will be made to create a state level "traffic resource prosecutor" position in every state.
  • Methods to share best practices and what works with neighboring jurisdictions will be developed or utilized where avenues currently exist for this exchange.
  • Prosecutors accepted responsibility to get more experienced prosecutors involved in DWI cases.
  • Prosecutors asked for assistance in getting loan forgiveness programs in place in order to attract and retain qualified prosecutors.
  • Clearinghouses for training, videotapes and publications must be established and maintained at the national and state level.

Toxicologists

  • Increased focus on and funding for toxicology labs must be a priority to funding agencies.
  • Toxicologists will seek resources for comprehensive toxicology testing and specialized services in labs.
  • This professional group will encourage increased support of law enforcement and recommended better sharing and collection of data between law enforcement and toxicologists.

Public Policy Group

The public policy group included state legislators, county officials, and tribal leaders. This group made a number of budget and legislative recommendations, which they promised to bring to national organizations such as the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the National Association of Counties (NACO). The legislative and budget recommendations were:

  • States and tribes should consider earmarking increased funding for DWI enforcement, prosecution, adjudication, rehabilitation and treatment.  It should be noted that some members of this group disagreed about the earmarking of funds (although they did agree that increasing funding was key) for impaired driving as this can significantly reduce the flexibility of state law makers to respond to changing economic circumstances and alter policy options in response to the changing needs of their citizens, and may also result in insufficient resources for programs if earmarked funding is tied to unstable or stagnant revenue streams.
  • When budget cuts are made through the legislative process, DWI enforcement, prosecution and adjudication should remain a priority.
  • States and tribes should create DWI courts or make them a part of existing drug courts.
  • States and tribes should enact laws that:
    • allow for DWI checkpoints
    • allow HGN results as evidence upon a showing of substantial compliance with applicable standards
    • make test refusal a per se crime
    • authorize non-consensual blood withdrawal
    • standardize and streamline DWI forms
    • maintain plea agreements for lesser offenses as part of driving records and count as prior conviction
  • The federal government should maintain a national DWI database for tracking DWI offenders.

Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Administrators

  • DMV administrators suggested change in the direction of federal mandates from sanctions to incentives with more funding for treatment of alcohol abuse and more referrals from the medical community.
  • This group offered DMV administrators and their staff as resources and especially for training for those in law enforcement, prosecution and adjudication on services the DMV can provide.  For example, the DMV staff can help other professional groups understand DMV driver records better.
  • DMV administrators would like to see states make more use of medical advisory boards to explore treatment options, particularly for repeat offenders who should be treated before being licensed again.

State Highway Safety Agency Administrators

  • State alcohol assessments should be utilized.
  • This group committed to convene more alcohol forums at the state or regional level with state and regional professional associations, similar to this Summit.
  • They will work to reenergize taskforces on DWI with specific agendas and meetings.
  • Highway safety administrators recommended that the role and connection with judicial training be expanded to include prosecutor training and the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators.
  • An opportunity exists to make traffic record keeping more efficient through the use of model DWI information systems.
  • Highway safety administrators said they would encourage federal leaders in their discipline to collaborate with other federal agencies to leverage funding resources.

State Criminal Justice Agency Administrators

  • The need for data and case law automation to allow for the seamless exchange of timely, accurate information was identified as an important need.
  • They recommended high quality training and continued education of law enforcement, prosecutors, public defenders and judges.
  • They urged funding collaboration using several federal funding streams such as Department of Justice grant programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Program; Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants; and Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant (JAIBG) Program; and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) grants such as the state formula grants.

State Victim Services Agency Administrators

  • This practitioner group urged the inclusion of victims and victim groups in all areas of the DWI enforcement, prosecution and adjudication process.
  • Victim services providers and their administrative agencies have much to contribute in terms of raising public awareness, working towards the prevention of DWI, and helping victims deal with emotional responses to trauma.
  • Victim service agency administrators urged better information sharing between the criminal justice system components and victims of their rights to be heard.
  • They emphasized that policymakers remember the human component in DWI statistics - that the injuries, death and risk of harm all involve human victims.

Public Defenders

  • Public defenders stated that they would like to work with others in the DWI system to make it work more efficiently. 
  • Public defenders welcomed open dialogue and joint problem solving, particularly in the area of technology integration to eliminate excessive paperwork and increase the speed and efficiency of the system.
  • They support the use of social workers to do intake assessments, which can lead to more informed decision-making by the courts.
  • Public defenders recommended loan forgiveness programs to help recruit and retain qualified public defenders in the same way as recommended for prosecutors.
  • Public defenders offered to assist in providing training to law enforcement in areas such as cross examination and courtroom procedures using such methods as mock trials and videotapes.
  • Public defenders said they would work jointly with community and victims groups to reduce DWI.

Judicial Educators

  • Training and education of judges in specific areas should be developed using both live and distance learning.
  • They support mandatory continuing judicial education.
  • This group recommends using existing funding more appropriately and finding other creative sources for funding such as liquor taxes.
  • Judicial educators emphasized the need to conduct more collaborative training at state and national levels.

Court Administrators

  • This group recommended a case management package.  They offered the National Association for Court Management (NACM) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) to produce a case management package to monitor DWI offenders.  This package could be developed for $500,000 through NACM and COSCA working with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). They asked for funding to provide this product and service.

Judges

  • Judges recommended the expansion of DWI courts.
  • They supported improvement of judicial education, particularly on DWI.  They commended NHTSA for making judicial education part of state highway safety funding.
  • They reported that mandatory minimum sentences cause problems for judges because they take away judicial discretion, slow trials, affect conviction rates, and contribute to jail overcrowding.
  • They encouraged partnerships to share what works.

Probation

  • Those in probation recommended that agencies at the federal level work together on the DWI issue rather than just asking practitioners at the local and state level to work together.  For example, NHTSA should work closely with the federal treatment agencies such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, in the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as with the U.S. Department of Justice. All of these federal agencies have funding streams that provide funds to states and a coordinated effort between these agencies would make it easier to collaborate at the state and local levels as well.

Corrections and Jails

  • Corrections and jail administrators recommended several innovative funding sources to support the correctional system, for example, use the "cigarette tax concept" for alcohol and for establishments such as bars that sell alcohol. 
  • These resources are needed to:
    • Implement triage and sober assessment centers to provide better screening and assessment of detainees.  Such facilities can help jail administrators determine detainees' BAC level at intake and help them move such detainees into appropriate services.
    • Purchase or upgrade technology.
    • Provide funding to Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) boards to help them enforce laws.
    • Raise public awareness on DWI in schools and in the general public.  Posters and breath tests could be used in bars to encourage responsible behavior.
    • Develop a video that could be shown to offenders before they are permitted to be released from jail that would inform them of important facts about DWI. This would be utilized by corrections and jail administrators.