Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Drunk Driving Suspects to Be Outed on Twitter in Texas

by Amar Toor on December 28, 2009 at 11:12 AM


Despite the rare case to the contrary, drinking and driving ain't no joke. And during the holidays, when champagne and merriment flow freely, sound judgment tends to blur, and inebriated drivers hit the road in droves. This year, one county in Texas is attempting to stem the DUI tide well before any key meets ignition. The weapon of choice? Twitter.

The district attorney office in Montgomery County, Texas has announced that between Christmas and New Years, it will tweet the names of anyone arrested and charged with a DUI, in the hopes that the threat of public humiliation might deter any potential drunken road recklessness this year. Such information has always been part of the public record, and many newspapers around the country already publish it on the same preemptive grounds. This latest move, though, has awakened dormant controversy, with many questioning whether or not suspects who haven't been convicted of anything should have their names published on public forums -- and, more importantly, whether or not they could still be guaranteed a fair trial. Vehicular Crimes Prosecutor Warren Diepraam, however, remained confident in the legal fairness of the tactic, telling PC World, "We're not putting information in the public that's unavailable."

We're not aware of any statistics that prove the effectiveness of this "public shame" approach, but Diepraam should at least acknowledge that there's a big difference between official public records and Twitter. People use Twitter for virtually everything, and we think that this increased visibility is something that should be taken into account -- especially when considering the possible bias effect it could have on jurors. We understand the motivation behind the initiative, but in the U.S. people are innocent until proven guilty, and that's a legal principle far too sacred to compromise -- even if doing so might give party-goers pause when reaching for their keys this holiday season. [From: PCWorld]

Tags: crime, drunk driving, DrunkDriving, dui, holidays, police, texas, top, twitter

Comments

1

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular