rcement agency has the right to impound the minors vehicle. The zero tolerance law enforces a blood alcohol level of .01%, which equals one beer, one glass of wine, or one shot of hard liquor--that is all it will take to put a minor over the legal limit.Alcohol is legal for adults to drink, but it is a depressant drug that can be just as dangerous as drugs. It distorts the visual perception of drivers and interferes with their attention span. Drinking and driving is also seen as a health issue and policies have been devised to save lives and reduce injuries. The main emphasis for non-criminal countermeasures is to alter institutional patterns rather than to catch and punish. People who encourage countermeasures of the above types feel that criminal justice sanctions should be applies only to those who are culpable. Applegate describes these approaches as a challenging paradigm (177). Proposed interventions are: 1. Make it possible for victims to sue bar owners, whose customers get drunk and cause an accident on the way home. 2. Make it possible for the victims to sue persons who have a party at their house, and whose guests get drunk and cause an accident on the way home. 3. Provide more government funds to set up treatment programs for people with alcohol problems. 4. Require all new cars to have an interlock system, requiring the driver to breathe into a machine that can tell if he or she has been drinking. 5. Require all new cars have driver and passenger air bags in the front seats. 6. Supply government money for television advertisements showing the dangers of driving while intoxicated. 7. Provide government money to anti-drug groups. 8. Require a speed limit of 55 mph on all highways. 9. Have a convicted drivers vehicle seized and impounded for one year, and 10. If a person is convicted of a second offense, have their vehicle seized and sold a public auction. These countermeasures have two potential problems. The...
