Driving Under The Influence (DUI)

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency, alcoholism is the number one addiction in America with 17.6 Million or 1 in 12 people suffer from the addiction (NCADD, 2015). Along with the addiction comes irresponsible choices, the most notable is Driving under the Influence (DUI), this is the same as Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). In response to the prevalence of DUI/DWIs and alcohol related crimes in today’s society, local governmental systems have decided upon creating DUI courts.
DUI/DWI court is targeted at repeat offenders of DUIs, DWIs, and alcohol related charges such as minor in possession, public intoxication, and contribution to the delinquency of a minor (FindLaw, 2015). Those under the legal drinking

The person who presides over the DUI/DWI court is the judge. The judge is not committed solely to just this program, so his time is limited; however, he works to correct and note behaviors and actions that are going against the program (Circuit, 2010). The judge will also give penalties to those who have received them for dilution charges, missing meetings, missing group, positive urine test, and general misconduct within the system. The jail time the judge sentences varies from case to case and it also changes based on the number of previous offenses (Circuit, 2010). Then there is the coordinator, this persons job is to decrease the recidivism rate of those who have gone through the program as well as constantly updating the outdated policies of the program (Circuit,

For the Forsyth County DUI court it costs $150 per month for the first three phases (Circuit, 2010). Then for the last phase it is $65 per month. In addition to these costs, one must pay for the cost of he or she’s urine tests, which are done on a random basis. Moreover, those enrolled in the program in Forsyth County must pay a DUI court fee of $50 per month and then probationary fees (Circuit, 2010). The cost of DUI court is quite high, and plans can be worked out if the monetary obligations cannot be fulfilled. However, DUI court requires a substantial amount of time. Those who are currently in phase one and phase two of the program are required to attend DUI court dates twice a month (Circuit, 2010). Once he or she enters phase three and phase four, he or she is only required to attend DUI court once a month. During all phases, the participants are required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings (Circuit, 2010). During phase one they must attend a high number of these meeting per week and as he or she phases up, the number of meetings required decreases. In addition to this, the participants must also attend counseling and group therapy sessions (Circuit, 2010). The participant will be assigned a counselor and will meet with the counselor on a regular basis. If the counselor finds it to be necessary, the participant can be sent to a doctor for a mental health medicine evaluation and