Publishing names may not be a deterrent

TONY DODERO

I kind of felt like taking a day off my column and sure enough our

readers came through.

You see, when I asked for opinions about the weekly list of names

we publish of those arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, well,

let’s just say there was no shortage of opinions.

So, instead of me blathering on more about the topic, I’m going to

step back and let the readers do most of the talking.

As promised, I have left the names off the responses I received,

even though some were more than happy to give their names. The

respondents came equally from both cities and include at least one

person who identified himself as a retired attorney and there’s even

a response from a member of the Daily Pilot reporting staff.

Some made some real good suggestions and some asked why we don’t

just publish the names of those convicted rather than arrested. The

reason for that is more technical than I’d like to admit, but

basically the ability to track those convicted of drunken driving in

the courts is a logistic impossibility.

As a point of reference, I did inquire with the staff at the

California Newspaper Publishers Assn. as to how many newspapers in

the state publish similar lists.

The association has about 200 combined daily, weekly, college and

high school newspapers.

I received the following e-mail reply:

“We’re estimating no more than about 10% of our member papers run

such lists, mostly smaller community papers. Many do expanded,

narrative-style cop logs, but not so much the straight list itself.”

Despite all the great reader responses, I haven’t made a decision

about the fate of the list. But I pledge to the readers that I will

continue talking this over with other editors here at this paper and

my boss, the publisher, over the coming months to gauge its

usefulness and service to the community.

When we do make a final decision on the list, I’ll be sure to

report that to you all. Now for what the readers think, here are the

responses, some in an edited version:

*

First, I do find myself scanning the list each week, looking for

familiar names. I don’t really want to see any friends names there,

but I can imagine what the impact must be when a person’s name does

appear.

I just have to believe that it is a deterrent for a few folks who

might take that one drink too many before heading home. If not

themselves, perhaps their loved ones, will influence them.

The second point I wanted to make has to do with a very real

experience I’ve had recently. For most of the past month, I have been

attending to the affairs of my best friend who is in critical

condition as a result of a motorcycle accident -- not drinking

related, by the way. During this time, I’ve spent most of the day and

evenings in the waiting room of the Trauma Center at the University

Medical Center, waiting and watching people as circumstances bring

them to that sad place. Two weeks ago, two young boys were brought to

the center after they were involved in an automobile accident. One of

the two, a recently licensed 16-year-old, was driving under the

influence with four of his 15-year-old friends.

He crashed into a block wall, three of his best friends were

killed and his very best friend spent the next two weeks recovering

from his injuries. He is still in the hospital as I type this.

The young driver, who was also injured but is out of the hospital

now, will live the rest of his life knowing that he is responsible

for the death of three of his closest friends. It’s painful to even

contemplate the emotional issues this young person -- a great kid by

all accounts -- will face now. I’ve met his parents -- recently

divorced -- and also met a woman who came to the hospital when she

saw the news reports on television. She sought out the mother of the

boy in question; to console her and offer whatever help she could

because her own son suffered a similar experience a year earlier.

My point is that if identifying arrested drunken drivers deters

others out of fear of embarrassment, then the publication of the list

is a worthwhile effort -- one that I’m glad the Daily Pilot has

chosen to perpetuate.

My wife loves to read the names on your list to me when it is

published and I know she talks about people she knows on it with her

friends. I also know she never “qualifies” it with the statement

“arrested on the suspicion of a crime” -- it is now a known fact as

it is in The Pilot -- she also has never read me the name of anyone

who was found “not guilty.”

My conclusion is that the list is like a scarlet letter or brand

on the forehead, whether the crime is true or not, which can ruin a

lifetime of earning a good reputation for being an active citizen,

good neighbor, wife, husband, father, mother, daughter, son, friend

or employer. The image of a drunk is fixed on you for life.

In a small community like ours, I wonder how many named on your

list have subsequently moved, become ill, committed suicide, gotten

divorced, or become a leper to previous friends.

All without the benefit of any rebuttal, such as being drunk but

sleeping in your car parked at a restaurant when a tap is heard on

the window and a cop is flashing you with a light; or you are stopped

on the side of the road, after a birthday celebration with

girlfriends; or you phone your husband to come and give you a ride

but a police cruiser arrives before he does.

My conclusion is your “list” does not deter anyone from drinking

but it does cause havoc with many people whose lives are blemished

forever by your newspaper without recourse.

Your column pondered the question of printing the names of drunken

driving arrestees. I do not think that someone who is intoxicated and

driving is in the least bit concerned with having his or her name

printed in the paper.

They are concerned about making it home without getting caught by

our fine police officers if they are somewhat sober. If they are so

intoxicated that they are not concerned about getting home without

being arrested or getting in an accident, they certainly won’t be

concerned about the Daily Pilot printing their name.

At least not until they sober up, at which time they will be

consumed with hiring an attorney, obtaining the money to pay the fine

(and the attorney), getting to and from work (if they still have a

job) and how they are going to explain all this to their

spouse/family/boss, etc. I was hit by a drunken driver, and he was

not concerned about anything except having another cigarette.

I am not opposed to printing the names, but I really don’t think

it deters anyone.

Another reason for you to publish DUIs is your presumed private

purpose of wanting to foster civilization.

If you believe it is a good thing that there are rules of behavior

for people, and if people are still susceptible to public shaming,

then it’s consistent of you to try to shame lawbreakers. Finally,

when you act as if public shaming works, you help keep shaming alive

as a way to keep people behaving in civilized ways.

It does matter what a graybeard on the tribal council (that’s

you.) says and does. The corollary is that you need to keep doing it

if you want to continue being seen as a graybeard. So, by all means,

continue printing names of DUI arrestees. Red-light runners would be

my next choice. Think how sweet life could be if there were no

drunken drivers and no runners of red lights.

I believe the list is very beneficial and a good thing to publish

in the Daily Pilot. Just knowing the list is there is a reminder to

me to think twice about drinking and driving. Thanks for asking for

the input.

I think it’s useless and puritanical to print them. Let me also

say I think drunken driving is a horrendous crime.

First, I have never gotten a DUI, but I would think getting a DUI

is humiliating enough without having to see your name in the paper.

Second, if we really want to print them, we should only print them

after they have been convicted.

I don’t think it deters people, because I think most of the people

who commit DUIs don’t consciously think beforehand that their name

might be in the paper if they were to get arrested, especially since

they’re drunk at the time. In the example you alluded to in your

column, the drunken driver already had one DUI, so if his name was

already in the paper, it obviously didn’t deter him the second time,

plus he was on drugs.

It just seems very judgmental to print them when we don’t print

other crimes that cause injury, like hit and runs and assaults.

A friend of mine got a DUI a couple years ago. She is neither a

drunk nor a “rabble-rouser” but a professional woman who had three

glasses of wine with dinner. The chaos and expense of that DUI is

unbelievable and seemingly never ending. I am a fanatic about not

drinking and driving and I think more should be done to educate the

public. These are my suggestions:

1. As a requirement for receiving a driving permit, every

15-year-old should attend at least one hour of real traffic court. I

had to drive my friend to court since her license had been revoked,

and what an experience, especially when they cuff a person and haul

him away. Every child should see that.

2. It should be clearly posted at any establishment that sells or

serves alcohol how many ounces of beer or mixed drink will put a

person (of various weights) over the .08 legal limit.

3. It should be posted at all high schools and any establishment

which sells or serves alcohol the actual consequences of a DUI (i.e.

your car is towed and impounded and you are thrown in jail for the

night. You pay for towing and impound as well as traffic school. You

can’t drive for 30 days, you’ll have a restricted license, your

insurance goes through the roof, your name will be printed in the

Daily Pilot which everyone in town reads, etc.)

4. And yes, the Daily Pilot should continue printing the names of

those who have received a DUI. We need to use every means possible

(even shame) to prevent drinking and driving.

I have always marveled at the fact the Pilot publishes this

information.

Yes, it is public record. But is it a deterrent? I don’t think so.

If deterring behavior is what you are trying to do, why not publish

the names of robbers, murderers, shoplifters, and dead-beat dads, to

name a few.

The worst part is I read it to see if anyone I know is in trouble.

We want to compliment you on the service you provide by publishing

the DUIs. We’re very much in favor of that.

We feel that first-time offenders should have their licenses

revoked for six months and second-time offenders should not be able

to drive at all. If it saves one life, it’s worth it.

I consider it terribly unfair and it flies in the face of the

presumption of innocence because people who read that list generally

do not conceive and understand that the people may be arrested who

are not guilty of the offense and yet they are painted and tainted

with the same brush of those that are, in fact, guilty.

I have never seen, and I read the Pilot daily, an article in the

paper where someone is reported as being found not guilty. Probably

because if they are found not guilty they don’t want the further

embarrassment of seeing their name in the paper in connection with

this kind of offense.

I have one other argument for you.

If this listing of people is considered to be a deterrent, then

why does the list continue to be about the same length month after

month year after year?

It’s not deterring anybody from this kind of conduct. If it was,

the list should be getting smaller and go away. and it hasn’t in the

15 years that you indicated it has been published.

I concur with your reporting that list even though it has been a

very difficult thing in my own family. I do believe it can act as a

deterrent and I do encourage you to continue to do it. I’m a reader

who approves of that.

I think you should continue to publish it. While people are

innocent until proven guilty, Costa Mesa is a very innovative city as

far as the prosecution and arrest of drunken drivers and I think it

is a very valuable public service. There is a deterrent value in the

people who live here and read the Pilot.... I know several people who

have been on the list and it has acted as a deterrent because as soon

as they are on that list they are getting numerous phone calls from

people who read the Pilot.

That humiliation aspect, believe it or not, can act as a deterrent

whereas normal jail time may not. You say you have a standing policy

if people are exonerated of the charge, the paper will publish it.

But maybe you should add that to the disclaimer of innocent until

proven guilty.

Keep up the good work and yes please continue to publish the DUI

list. I think it’s critically important. I think the more open

information we have in this society the better this society is. And

that is indeed open information.

I think the names should be in the papers. I really think their

photos should be along with it.

I knew a guy who drank all the time was always getting picked up

and he was so embarrassed he didn’t want his family to know or his

friends to know. I think people should know they have to be careful

of getting into a car or letting a child get into a car with somebody

who is apt to be real drinker.

I think we ought to know and we need to get them off the road. A

drunken driver killed four out of a family of five who attended my

church, leaving a little boy that the grandma and grandfather have to

raise. It’s pitiful that they sit around and drink all day and then

finish off the day by killing people.

I have a few problems with that. I think we can all agree we don’t

like drunken driving -- it’s absolutely not a good thing to have that

on the streets -- and the police do a good job of stopping the people

who are abusing that.

But the problem I have with that is I really believe you are

innocent until proven guilty and I don’t like that the Pilot does

print this, even though you publish that blurb about being innocent

until proven guilty.

What it does is it rings a bell and once you ring the bell and the

person’s innocent, their name is already in the paper. And people

know people in this city.

Let’s say there was a mistake or they were way below the alcohol

level, their name is already there. Even though you offer to do a

retraction article, the person doesn’t want their name in the paper

again and I don’t blame them.

We don’t list a lot of other things. We’ve got these new Big

Brother red-light cameras in our city now and people running red

lights can easily kill someone and we don’t run lists of people

running red lights. People who speed can kill someone and we don’t’

list them. It’s interesting that we only list the one group.