Reporting for KPCC, journalist Erica Aguilar recently published a “deep dive” examination into female DUI arrests in Los Angeles. Her two-part series is obviously well worth read.
Let’s examine a few key themes she discusses in her article. The information will probably shock you!
Aguilar opens by quoting Rosemary Earl, a juror who helped to convict a 38-year-old woman of second degree murder, after the woman hit and killed two other women while DUI and then fled the scene. Earl told KPCC: “I put someone in jail, and it impacts me … she took two lives that destroyed a lot of other people’s lives.”
KPCC analyzed two decades of DMV data and found that the number of female DUI arrests has gone up – both across the state and here in LA – for reasons that are befuddling to the experts. Stephen Bloch, a researcher at the Automobile Club of Southern California, told KPCC: “[The number of female DUI arrests] was somewhat stable in the 1980s, and then began to go up and just accelerated, particularly from 1999 to 2011.”
Meanwhile, the number of male DUIs fell during that same period.
Another analyst noted: “We don’t know if more women are drinking and driving … all we do know is that more women are being arrested.”
So why is this all happening?
One spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department suggested that an improvement in deputy and officer training could potentially explain the findings. For instance, around 2008, CHP began a concerted, aggressive push to bust drivers for driving under the influence. DUI arrests soon went up. But this doesn’t explain why MALE arrests went down during this time, while FEMALE arrests went up.
Another theory suggests that police have been getting better at identifying drivers who are not just DUI but also under the influence of prescription medications. Potentially, more women than men mix prescription drugs with alcohol. This might explain the discrepancy.
Yet another explanation is purely demographic. More and more women are entering the workforce. Thus, more and more women are driving, instead of staying at home and attending to kids. The surge in female DUI arrests, in other words, has nothing to do with enforcement and everything to do with the fact that the subset of female population that always been more inclined to drive DUI has increased due to socioeconomic and cultural factors.
Whether or not researchers will ever really understand the “big picture” stuff driving this peculiar trend – perhaps the numbers are just a statistical artifact? – you want urgent help with your Los Angeles DUI defense.
Contact attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers right now for ethical, thorough, and highly strategic assistance with your case.
Have you been arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles? If so, please contact DUI defense attorney Michael Kraut at (323) 464-6453 or online. Our building is located at 6255 Sunset Boulevard, Suite 1520, Los Angeles, California 90028.