Connecticut Prosecutor and MADD Create DUI Program for Minors
by
Joseph C. Maya on Mar. 24, 2017
Summary: Article on a Connecticut prosecutor working with MADD to create a program to deter minors from drinking and driving.
If you're still feeling a hangover from the holiday season, it's probably best not to discuss it with Peter McShane. Since prosecuting his first drunken driving case in 1988, the Middlesex state's attorney has been working with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to deter motorists from getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.
Most recently, as reported by the Middletown Press, McShane received the 2015 MADD Judge Richard A. Damiani award, which goes to an individual who has shown dedication to the organization's mission of eradicating drunken driving. McShane's focus has been on 16- to 21-year-olds. Back when he was working in New London courts, McShane saw frequent arrests of minors for liquor possession, distracted driving and speeding. Often, these young people were sentenced to community service. Afterward, "I would say to them, 'Did you learn anything about your offense?'" McShane recalled. Too often, the response was no.
The problem, he decided, was that the punishment was not tailored to the offense. Teens weren't learning the most important lesson-do not drink and drive. So in conjunction with MADD, McShane created the Start Making a Right Turn program, in which 16- to 21-year-olds attend programs where they listen to tales of pain and regret told by both adult DUI offenders and victims of drunken drivers. The SMART program, which began in New London, was adopted by every courthouse in Connecticut.
"It's so moving," McShane said of the offenders' and victims' stories. "If that doesn't give you pause or hesitation about if you had a drink and you were thinking of driving, I don't know how else you are going to reach people."
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Source: Prosecutor Steers Teens Away From Drunken Driving, 42 Conn. Law Tribune 2, Jan. 11, 2016, at 2.
