A Sobering Choice

Description

A Sobering Choice (ASC) DUI Panel

The Shasta County Judicial Branch, Adult Probation Department with Shasta County Chemical People has established a "A Sobering Choice DUI" Program.

ASC is a DUI victim panel utilized as an educational tool for convicted alcohol offenders.

Each Panel includes two to three victims who are selected to speak briefly about the drunk driving crashes in which they were injured or in which a loved one was killed and what this has meant to them. The panelist stories are told from the heart in neither a blaming or accusatory tone. Instead they simply tell their story about how their lives and families have been affected by the crash. Victims never speak to groups in which their own offender is present. There is no interaction between the victims and the offenders during the panel presentation, but a question and answer period follows in which the coordinator will read written questions from the offenders.

Judges and Probation Officers may require convicted drunk driving offenders to attend ASC as an element of their sentence. The panel does not replace conventional sentencing but rather adds a creative component to it.