Good News, Bad News?
Well it appears that the federal government is going to rain on Illinois' party. For years Illinois has had an alternative sentence (or disposition) for those charged with DUI. Only one other state has a similar system. The system works like this: a person charged with a first DUI can avoid a conviction, by paying a fine, completing school and attending a VIP (Victim Impact Panel) if the judge and the prosecutor can agree.
It was a great system, it allowed many people to avoid DUI conviction which generally followed them for life.
Problem: The federal government, the same folks that brought you standardized CDLs (commercial drivers licenses) have a tracking system for drivers that they would like to implement to track us all better. Seems listening to our phone calls just wasn't satisfying enough. This tracking system works well when every state reports uniformly. It doesn't work well when you have stand out states who won't report uniformly.
Solution, demand those states change their laws to fit the federal model. I don't have a clear read on how long this change will take to happen, but you can tell your friends you heard it first here.
Ray Flavin
