they’ve already had discussions about the ways people can get out of their DUIs. It is not unusual to find people who have had multiple DUI arrests pled down to reckless driving, and that should concern all of us who travel our roads. We must acknowledge the dangers we introduce when we don’t take the first arrest seriously. That does not mean an offender’s life needs to be ruined, but knowing there are penalties, especially when the penalties are smart and effective like requiring an Ignition Interlock Device, does influence future behavior. South Carolina should seek to be known as “tough on DUI,” but we are anything but right now. We have to connect that reality to our terrible DUI statistics. South Carolina can improve by more aggressively seeking convictions on first time offenders and requiring Ignition Interlock Devices for all offenders.
Focus Area #5: Aggressive Prosecution of DUIs with Adequate Resources
Prosecuting a DUI is quite difficult in South Carolina. We understand that in each case, the prosecutor typically has the best overall perspective on what is the best way to handle that case given the quality of the investigation and their experience with the local judges and juries. However, we cannot look at the overall rate of pleas to lesser charges and feel satisfied. Every prosecution agency should reexamine the aggressiveness with which they pursue convictions and recognize that on a community- level scale a low conviction rate endangers public safety as offenders are facing lesser penalties and perhaps avoiding important sanctions like Ignition Interlock Devices. Agencies could consider internal review procedures that require a close look at each case with a reckless driving plea and determine whether that case could have been won. It may even be a better overall result to lose more cases if it means getting more DUI convictions over reckless driving pleas. However, part of ensuring aggressive prosecution is ensuring that there are sufficient resources dedicated to DUI prosecution. One implication of this would be reducing the frequency that officers in South Carolina are prosecuting their own DUI arrests without the assistance of a legally trained prosecutor. This practice largely does not happen outside of South Carolina. In discussing this issue with our key experts and key traffic safety partners, the consensus is largely that having officers prosecute their own DUI cases should be greatly reduced or eliminated because 1) their time is better spent doing what they were hired to do — enforcing the law, 2) they do not have the training lawyers do, and 3) they will often be “mismatched” going against a trained DUI defense attorney. Our data show a DUI conviction rate of only 31% of cases in low prosecution support areas compared to 58% in our high prosecution support areas. Even an officer who prosecutes all of their own DUI arrests will have less experience prosecuting a DUI case than an attorney prosecutor assigned the DUI arrests of multiple officers, and
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