natives of montgomery county, texas will be thinking twice before getting behind the wheel drunk. if you get busted with a dwi this holiday season, your friends and neighbors are bound to hear about it on twitter. the local district attorney’s office has vowed to name and shame those arrested for drunk driving on district attorney brett ligon’s twitter page.
this tactic, conceived by county vehicular crimes prosecutor warren diepraam, was implemented as an effort to dissuade drunk drivers by threatening them with public humiliation. names will be published on holiday weekends such as christmas, new years, 4th of july and memorial day; which are thought to be times when a lot of people tend to drive under the influence.
although the idea of publicizing names of offenders is not entirely new – for it is not uncommon for local newspapers in the u.s. to publish the names of people charged with dwi’s or prostitute solicitation – these practices remain highly controversial. some internet law bloggers are rallying against this by stressing upon the “innocent until proven guilty” rule.
*for you locals or others that don’t know, in ‘amerka’ dwi stands for driving while intoxicated.
what do you think? has the houston-area county gone too far or is it right in publishing the names on twitter? do you think this will help decrease the number of drunk drivers on the road? claim to fame or shame? post your comments!
[original image credit: www.cartoonstock.com]
[text in image by nittygriddy.com]