By C1 Staff
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new bill hopes to curb New Mexico’s issue with drunken drivers by putting them in jail for longer.
KOB reports that House Bill 359 seeks to increase the penalty for people convicted of four to seven DWIs by a year.
For those convicted for eight DWIs or more, the penalty would be up to 12 years.
“What this addresses are people who have a serious problem and the other types of methods of treatment aren’t working. So we believe that by increasing the penalties will be a huge deterrent for people to think twice before drinking and driving and getting on one of New Mexico’s roads,” said State Rep. Sarah Maestas Barnes, who introduced the bill.
Advocates against drunk driving don’t believe more jail time is the answer.
“There are loopholes now where every first time offender is supposed to have an interlock device and we’re not seeing them used to the rate we should,” said Ben Lewinger with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “So I think it’d be a better idea to focus efforts on using technology that we already have where alcoholics can get the treatment they need, still be with their family, and taxpayers don’t float the bill for their jail time.”
Barnes did acknowledge that it would be difficult to get the bill passed due to a strong lobby from the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Assocaition.
The current law in the state puts those with four DWI convictions behind bars for up to a year and a half. Seven or more convictions puts offenders behind bars for up to three years.