Originally Posted by
mconlonx
...and the politically feasible alternative to the proposed law is what?
You're advocating for doing nothing or for change to happen at a scale much larger, more involved, and time consuming than pushing for a state law.
The people behind this law -- those who brought it as an issue to their representatives -- would have better spent their time doing what about this issue?
Nothing is certainly preferable to making things worse, which is one possible unintended (but foreseeable) consequence of this law.
However, putting effort into education, removal of judges who give lenient sentences, and even publicly shaming jurors are all actions that can be done and can potentially improve the situation. But yes, real change often does take much longer than simply changing a law or creating yet another new law that will be ignored.
Originally Posted by
FBinNY
As I said earlier, there should also be a presumption of guilt for DUI if there's evidence to support it. In other words, leaving the scene and not driving directly to a police station would strip someone who can be shown to have been drinking (in any amount) of the defense that a blood test might have provided. But note, that there would still need to be some form of evidence to support the inference.
Such a fundamental change, such as the presumption of innocence to a presumption of guilt, could have even more (and potentially more far reaching), unintended consequences. Our legal system was designed to make it difficult for the government to get a conviction for very legitimate reasons. That so many have either forgotten those reasons or simply don't believe they are needed anymore is strong evidence that the reason it was implemented as it was was done for a good purpose. In short we have forgot how governments can rail road individuals into criminal convictions for unsavory reasons.
However, in an age where we have been multiplying the ways in which our governments can strip people of those same protections, we should be even more cautious before advocating even more ways that it can be done...