There’s always been a silver lining to
a DUI conviction. For one thing, you never know whom
you’ll meet during the mandatory 10-hour class on the dangers
of alcohol that’s attended by most everyone convicted of
drunken driving. Aside from members of the opposite sex,
there’s always a chance that you’ll meet a celebrity.
After all, such notables as Mike Ditka, Diana Ross, Glen Campbell,
and Nick Nolte have been busted for driving drunk. The chances of your rubbing shoulders with
the rich and inebriated have been drastically reduced in Illinois,
however, with the advent of online DUI classes. Illinois is embracing online DUI courses with
a vengeance. Two years ago, Intervention Instruction Inc., based in
Chicago, convinced a handful of courts, including Sangamon
County’s, to allow DUI offenders to take their classes
online. Now, says John Moulton, Intervention Instruction program
director, every court in the state has recently begun allowing
offenders to take their mandatory alcohol classes by way of the
Internet so that they’ll never see the inside of a classroom.
So far, about 180 offenders have taken the online course, Moulton
says, a tiny percentage of the 50,000 people arrested for DUI in
Illinois each year. The fee is $175 for all counties except Cook,
DuPage, Kane, Lake, and Will, where online classes cost $195, the
nonprofit company says. However, contrary to what Chicago-based
Intervention Instruction is telling the media in press releases,
authorities in DuPage County say that they don’t allow DUI
offenders to take alcohol classes online. “We haven’t
gotten official approval for that yet,” Moulton confirms. And
with good reason, says one insider. “Both the bar association and the
judges in DuPage addressed it and determined we would not accept
the online process,” says Donald Ramsell, one of
state’s most prominent DUI defense attorneys. The Wheaton-based lawyer’s firm has
handled more than 13,000 DUI cases since 1986. Besides being past
president of the DuPage County Bar Association, Ramsell is past
president of the county Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and
past chairman of the Illinois State Bar Association Traffic Law
Committee. Although his pedigree suggests that he would favor
anything that makes life easier for his clients, Ramsell says that
the reason behind his opposition to online DUI school is simple:
“I drive on the public highways, too.”
Intervention Instruction boasts that online
instruction is convenient to offenders and offers more personal
dignity and safety than in-person instruction. DUI offenders are
often stripped of their drivers’ licenses, Moulton notes, so
they won’t be tempted to break the law and drive to a class
if they can use a computer instead. The course is particularly
attractive to shift workers, the disabled, drivers from out of state, and,
Moulton says, “prominent citizens who are well-known in the
community.” Offenders may take the course at any time
that’s convenient. Moulton recalls a woman who turned the audio
off and contacted technical support to find out why the screen pages
were turning so slowly (the program doesn’t allow offenders to
move to the next page until a narrator finishes reading). “We
found out she was at work and didn’t want her employer to hear
it,” he says. The program is divided into four
two-and-a-half-hour segments, with a 48-hour lockout period between
segments to guarantee that offenders can’t just blaze through
in a day. Offenders must answer some essay questions and also score
at least 75 percent on a 33-question test at the end of the
program. While registering, offenders must provide their shoe size,
the name of the first elementary school they attended, and dozens
of other personal details that form the basis of questions that
randomly pop up to ensure that the defendant, not a ringer, is
taking the course. “That course is tougher than sitting in a
classroom,” Moulton says. “I can guarantee you right
now, any client that’s going through our online program is
getting at least as good and probably better.”
Moulton says that a person couldn’t be
drunk while taking the course because graders would be able to spot
an intoxicated person through their written essays. “They can
tell if you’re coherent and if you’re answering the
questions right,” he says. What about such heavy drinkers as
Edgar Allan Poe and Ernest Hemingway, renowned for producing
literary masterpieces while soused? “I guess so,” he
answers. “Then again, those are the same people who can sit
down and fool a person in class.”
Ramsell says that there’s no substitute
for being in a classroom, where there’s no temptation to
watch television, listen to a stereo, or otherwise be distracted
from the business at hand. “You’re compelled to watch,
listen, and feel,” he says. “You don’t have any
of that with a computer. The next thing will be a Web site that
sells the answers [to the tests].”
Noting that few local defendants have opted
for computer classes, Sangamon Circuit Court Judge Robert Eggers
says that no problems have come to the attention of court
officials. “We just haven’t had any issues with it that
I’m aware of,” Eggers says. “You’ve got to
think outside the box every once in awhile.”
There is at least one advantage to keeping
drunks away from each other while they learn about alcohol, Ramsell
allows. “The one thing it might help reduce is
the after-hours party,” he says.
This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2005.
