Although many people assume females are treated more leniently than the way men are treated in regards to DUIs, this is not the case.
Gender or Age Are Not Determining Factors in DUI Charges or Case Outcomes—But a Qualified Attorney Is Your Best Option to Promote the Best Resolution
Once you’re in the court system – when the Prosecutor’s Office reviews a case and decides to file it or reject it – men and women are treated the same. Whether you’re 18 years old or 81 years old, I think you’re treated the same when it comes to DUIs. There’s a lot of political pressure along with a lot of review and supervision of cases.
The prosecutors have a standardization regarding DUIs—everybody with a certain chemical test result gets a certain type of punishment. That’s why it’s so important to have a good attorney who can go in and show the Prosecutor’s Office where the problems are, where the deficiencies are based on the science, the law and the particular facts instead of just somebody’s gender or occupation or the type of car they were driving.
Do Police Show Bias in Arresting Different Genders?
I think once the case gets into the court system when we’re dealing with the prosecutors’ offices it’s a lot more likely that everybody is going to be treated the same. They are more likely to be treated like a case number rather than an individual.
Out in the field in the streets where the police officers are involved, they have unlimited discretion and limited supervision. They are able to do what they want when they want, and we do see situations where young, attractive females may be cited and detained and released simply with a citation. Whereas somebody else may get a full-blown arrest and have a court date.
Many times in the field when we have borderline cases, officers can use their discretion and have someone park their car and take a cab. It’s going to vary from police officer to police officer and agency to agency.
Officers Are Trained to Observe “Objective” Symptoms of Intoxication
I have handled another case where the police officers observed my female client driving on the wrong side of a divided road. They conducted a traffic stop and observed the objective symptoms of intoxication. These are what officers typically will put on their reports: bloodshot, watery eyes; odor of alcohol; slurred speech; and an unsteady gate.
They immediately began their DUI investigation on the scene doing field sobriety tests and formed the opinion that she was under the influence for purposes of driving. In this case, the chemical test results at the station were very borderline, another .08 case.
The field sobriety test showed that they administered a horizontal gaze Nystagmus test, a Romberg balance test, a one leg stand test and a finger to nose test. They did not do the walk and turn test, which is one of the standardized tests.
On the horizon gaze Nystagmus test where they test the eyes, they did notice all of the six clues that tend to indicate alcohol consumption and being above the legal limit. On the Romberg balance test my client estimated 20 seconds or 30, with inch to an inch and a half sway. While conducting the one leg stand, she had trouble balancing but did not display other clues such as using her arms for balance, hopping or putting her foot down.
Overall the field sobriety test results were pretty consistent with the low level of alcohol and it was a very borderline case. The driving pattern or why they stopped her was pretty bad. If you’re driving on the wrong side of the road, that’s one thing, but in this particular case, we were able to show that that was not due to alcohol.
Poor Driving Can Be Attributed to a Number of Reasons Other Than Alcohol Consumption
If it was due to alcohol we would have seen a higher chemical test result and more impairment on the field sobriety test. This was just one of those situations where someone accidentally drove on the wrong side of the road for a short period of time.
When you drive you’re supposed to keep your car in the middle of the lane as much as possible. But if you drive long enough, you’re going to turn the wrong way down a one way street or you’re going to go over the solid lines in a lane, you’re going to turn into on-coming traffic or you’re going to turn too wide – driving like this can be because of things completely unrelated to alcohol or drugs.
It could be that you’re drinking a soda, you’re changing the radio station, or dialing a cellphone and that can result in driving that may look like somebody’s impaired from alcohol or drugs but, in fact, it has nothing to do with it.
In this case there was some alcohol consumption but at a very low level. We were able to show through the field sobriety tests and through the rest of the report that any driving impairment was not because of alcohol or drugs. We were able to get the DUI charges dismissed. She actually plead no contest to a lesser charge that involved the reckless driving.
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