Kevin P. Meenan
The National Tragedies of Gun Violence and Drunk Driving
The difficult and grim work of determining how many people were violently murdered on September 11 is finally completed: over 3,000 people were killed that day in the terrorist attacks. We were all shocked and devastated by the scale of those numbers which were mercifully lower than the 7,000 originally feared dead. A terrible loss to our nation.
Keeping that loss in your minds and hearts, I want you to ponder some other grim statistics. In one year alone, this nation lost over nine times that number—27,000 of our citizens to two forms of violent crime: drunk driving and gun violence. Those heart-wrenching numbers occur year after year.
America’s prosecutors have been grappling with these two issues for decades. The most recent BJS and FBI statistics reveal that local prosecutors handle 99 percent of the violent crime prosecutions in the U.S. Every prosecutor has violent crime as his or her number one priority. Every community and state grapples with impaired driving and the resulting vehicular homicides. NDAA continues to work on behalf of America’s prosecutors on both problems.
Gun Violence – Of the 15,000 murders committed each year, over 10,000 of them are at the hands of armed killers. For every fatal shooting, there are roughly three non-fatal shootings. Next to the War on Terrorism, President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft have established Project Safe Neighborhoods as their number one crime priority to reduce gun violence. In concert with APRI and NDAA, the Bush Administration has committed significant resources to developing local/federal partnerships to prosecute gun law violators. Funding for new local prosecutor positions and for prosecutor training has been made available under this program.
Through a grant, APRI has developed special training for local prosecutors under Project Safe Neighborhoods. To be held at the NAC, this training will augment the courses in trial advocacy already conducted at the NAC by the National College of District Attorneys and will focus on enforcing existing gun laws at both the state and federal levels. The proposed local/federal cooperation promises to help reduce gun violence in all of our communities.
On behalf of NDAA, I have pledged to support the Bush Administration’s efforts. I represented NDAA when President Bush and AG Ashcroft first announced Project Safe Neighborhoods and was privileged to help open the first joint local/federal training at the NAC in January.
Impaired Driving – Despite a steady reduction in alcohol related traffic fatalities over the last 10 years, close to 17,000 people were killed by impaired drivers in 2000—700 more than the year before. America’s prosecutors know better than most that drunk driving fatalities are not accidents but preventable crimes of violence. We have pressed for better laws to help us and have all worked to strictly enforce the impaired driving laws. Over the past 15 years, much progress has been made. But much still remains to be done. Only 28 states have adopted the .08 BAC limit. Consistent enforcement is spotty around the country and too many judges still treat these crimes as accidents.
For prosecutors, at least two areas of critical need exist: training for new DUI prosecutors and establishing consistent prosecution standards. APRI’s National Traffic Law Center and the National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators have established excellent courses that used to be given regularly throughout the country. Unfortunately, funding for prosecutor training has been cut so badly that needed training in DUI prosecution cannot be given. We are working to restore funding so that we can meet the critical need for training in this area.
Like we have in the areas of juvenile crime and in domestic violence, NDAA and APRI need to research and develop prosecution standards for DUI and vehicular homicide enforcement for the use of America’s prosecutors. Throughout the country, prosecutors have developed charging and plea policies that have effectively reduced the incidence of impaired driving. Those can serve as models for NDAA standards to develop consistent enforcement.
I am encouraged that the new administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Dr. Jeff Runge, has a personal commitment to curbing impaired driving. On behalf of NDAA, I attended a recent Impaired Driving Summit sponsored by the Mothers Against Drunk Driving held to re-energize efforts to stop the impaired driver. At the invitation of NHTSA, I participated in a nationwide media campaign focused on the impact of the impaired driver. Because this problem is so basic to all prosecutors, NDAA will continue to work on this issue on your behalf.
We are all affected by the losses of September 11. But, losses from guns and drunks should also shock and devastate us. Yet, because these violent deaths occur in isolated incidents scattered all over this vast land and throughout each busy year, the enormity of pain those numbers represent to our country gets dissipated. That isn’t right. Know that NDAA remains committed to focusing our nation’s energy to stopping the national tragedies of gun violence and drunk driving.
