Home » Washington »Controversial DUI Laws in Washington

Controversial DUI Laws in Washington

The DUI laws in Washington are considered to be one of the most complex offenses in the criminal justice system. Its laws and penalties have been changed extensively over the years and if you are convicted, then it can affect you financially as well as professionally. Though the DUI laws have led to considerable reduction in the percentage of accidental deaths and serious injuries, it has led to many controversies.

 
 

More articles on DUI Laws in Washington

  
 

Legal and Political Controversies in DUI Laws in Washington

There have been many legal controversies in DUI laws in Washington, challenging the administrative hearing which needs to follow the Administrative Procedure Act RCW 34.05. These hearings are handled by an administrative law judge. However, the DOL hearing is handled by an employee of DOL who is considered as a hearing officer. He need not have any formal legal education or training. He will act as both prosecutor and judge and is responsible for questioning the driver, the evidence as well as the rules. He can also suspend his own procedural rules.

Controversies about Field Sobriety Tests

The Field Sobriety Tests or FSTs is considered to be one of the most controversial DUI laws in Washington. This is because it does not have enough scientific validity. However, these tests are still used as they offer certain amount of evidence to the crime committed by the drivers. These tests can be questioned if the defence counsel is successful to suppress the breath or blood test and keep the evidence away from the jury members. These tests help in arresting the drivers.

Till recently, law enforcement took the help of various kinds of tests and procedures to indentify cases of DUI. The National Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA even conducted various types of controversial studies to establish standard methods for these tests. These were formalised and the federal agency established that only three tests were most reliable out the list of various kinds of tests. These tests were the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN), the Walk and Turn and the One-Leg Stand.

These Field Sobriety tests have its share of limitations and criticisms as they are not very scientific. However, the prosecutors and police still use this evidence and present them to jurors as if they are technical evidences of alcohol impairment. According to these tests, every sober driver irrespective of the age, gender or condition will be able to perform these tests without any error. But the government has never offered any scientific sobriety backing to these tests. It also presumes that the law enforcement officers will evaluate the driver based on some standard rubric. Again, the government have not provided any tests to demonstrate this. Therefore, it is important that while arresting a driver, the field validation studies performed by NHTSA and the officers also involves other evidences like portable breath tests.