More Idahoans ‘Driven’ To Jail Strict License Laws Creating A ‘New Class Of Felons’

If you get caught driving with a suspended driver’s license in Idaho, not only will you go to jail - your license will be suspended for even longer.

Get caught driving again and you’ll get more of the same.

And the third offense is a felony - you’ll go to prison.

Idaho’s strict sentences for “driving without privileges” are coming under increased scrutiny as the state adds to its ever-growing list of reasons why a license can be taken away. Just last week, a lawmaker proposed adding misdemeanor graffiti offenses to the list.

“We’re creating a whole new class of felons,” said Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas.

Ninety-three of the inmates in Idaho’s state prisons now are serving time for driving without privileges, most of them sentenced to one- to three-year terms. For more than two-thirds of those inmates, it’s their first felony conviction.

The group makes up 2.4 percent of Idaho’s prison population. That’s a significant number in a state whose prison population is growing far faster than cell space can be provided.

Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Idahoans tend to want stricter sentences, not lighter ones.

But, he said, “If somebody wants to bring in a piece of legislation, I would certainly give them their day in court to present that and hear that. We’re very concerned about our prison population. We don’t want anyone in there who doesn’t belong there.”

The number of suspended drivers in prison is far outstripped by the number in county jails, who receive a mandatory minimum two-day sentence for a first offense and 20-day sentence for the second.

But that’s not all. The first charge brings another six months of license suspension. The second tacks on a full year.

“It’s real self-perpetuating,” said John Adams, chief public defender for Kootenai County. “In our modern society, it’s real difficult for a person who’s trying to make an income, raise their family, get their kids to and from school, not to drive their car. They’ll just do it. And every time you get caught, the suspensions get longer.”

Said Douglas, “I’ve seen people who are in a perpetual driving-while-suspended status. It’s like a cat chasing its tail around and around.”

Legislation proposed by the state Transportation Department this year would overhaul Idaho’s license suspension laws and remove the two-day mandatory minimum sentence for first offenses. But the complicated bill, HB 14, also would move many license-suspension proceedings from the department to the court system.

The prospect of thousands of suspended drivers trooping into court to seek restricted-driving permits has prompted Idaho’s judiciary to oppose the bill as one that would overwhelm the courts. The measure is now bottled up in a subcommittee.

In Kootenai County, 1,282 suspended drivers were booked into the county jail in 1996.

Statewide, the numbers are huge. The Idaho Supreme Court reports 12,175 DWP convictions in 1996, and that’s only the cases where DWP was the major offense. The figure doesn’t count cases where the driver also was charged with something more serious, like drunken driving.

Coeur d’Alene Magistrate Judge Eugene Marano said, “DWP is the most common misdemeanor we see nowadays.”

He noted that there’s no mandatory minimum sentence for drunken driving, but there is for DWP.

“As far as policy decisions are made, that’s a decision of the Legislature,” Marano said. “We as judges take the laws as they give them to us, and apply them to the situation.”

Rep. Celia Gould, R-Buhl, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said she’s seen few alternatives to stacking license suspension upon license suspension.

“You can’t just say, ‘Please don’t do it again,”’ she said.

Douglas said he’d like to see judges have more discretion to deal with individual situations, rather than being locked into minimum sentences. He’d also like to allow restricted driving privileges for suspended drivers, within limits that work for that particular case. That’s not allowed now for any but the first offense.

A strong supporter of license suspensions in many cases, Douglas said they’re important to keep dangerous drivers off the streets. And even Idaho’s new law suspending licenses for non-payment of child support seems to be working well, he said - causing lots of parents to pay, and resulting in few suspensions.

Capt. Ben Wolfinger of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department likes Idaho’s law suspending the licenses of teenagers who drop out of school, and supports suspensions for graffiti.

“I think it’s a great incentive,” he said. “You’re targeting an age group. They live and die for that driving privilege.”

But Adams said the suspension-after-suspension method doesn’t work well in a rural state, where people often have no alternative to driving if they have to work, or even get groceries.

“There’s not a lot of subways in these towns,” he said.

Said Douglas, “It’s a privilege to have a driver’s license, but it’s a necessity as well.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: OUTLAW DRIVERS Idaho law has 52 reasons why a person’s driver’s license may be suspended. Some examples: illegally passing a school bus, failing to pay child support, refusing a blood-alcohol test, skipping school when under 18, lacking motor vehicle insurance and not paying infraction penalties. Those convicted of driving while their license is suspended - a charge called “driving without privileges” - face longer suspensions every time they’re caught, along with jail terms. The third offense within five years is a felony, punishable by up to three years in prison. Currently, 20 of the 160 Kootenai County Jail inmates are in on DWP charges. That’s 12.5 percent of the population. In 1996, 40,784 Idahoans had their driver’s licenses suspended. Source: Idaho Transportation Department, Idaho Code, Idaho Department of Corrections, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.