We believe that prosecution agencies can achieve a “culture” change when it comes to better success raising DUI conviction rates. The county we monitored with the highest conviction rate, Spartanburg County, was able to point to both an aggressive prosecution culture and tangible “tough” actions. Judges and magistrates can contribute to an improvement in our state’s DUI problem by better owning the culture of how DUI cases are treated in their courtroom. This includes recognizing the impact of case delays by the defense on the likelihood of a conviction and also seeking advance DUI training as cases, especially drugged driving cases, grow even more complicated. In some areas, we call for an end to judges being so protective of pro se defendants that they refuse guilty pleas or even counsel defendants on how they should defend themselves. We need even more training for officers on proper handling of DUI arrests as officer error on these very complicated cases can ensure there will not be a conviction. Within each of the groups that make up the key parts of our DUI prosecution system (officers, prosecutors, and judges/magistrates), we have found that there are many with a genuine concern for the tragic impact that drunk and drugged driving can have on individuals, families, and communities. Many are doing the absolute best they can given their resources and circumstances. However, we call on all these groups, and the legislature, to do more because South Carolina continues to rank toward the bottom of states in regard to drunk driving, and we deserve better.
The Impact of COVID-19
To this point in the report, we have rarely addressed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on DUI enforcement, prosecution, and adjudication, largely because the vast majority of cases included in our analyses took place prior to March 2020. However, we did take the opportunity to ask all of the participants in our local roundtables about how they were currently experiencing the impact and what they anticipated in terms of long-term effects. The most obvious impact was a delay in nearly all cases, especially in the spring, as courts were shut down. However, arrests were still being made. This will lead to a certain backlog. Generally, prosecutors discussed finding ways to handle the “simpler” cases without official court sessions, which would essentially mean those who were pleading guilty or who were being offered a plea arrangement to a lesser charge. As discussed in this report, the longer cases take the more likely they often end as something other than guilty. This delay and backlog could certainly suggest lower
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