Australia: The names of the drivers are sent to local newspapers and areprinted under the heading "He's Drunk and in Jail."

Malaya: The driver is jailed; if he's married, his wife is jailed too.

South Africa: A 10-year prison sentence and/or the equivalent of a $10,000 fine.

Turkey: Drunk drivers are taken ten miles from town by the police and forced to walk back under escort.

Norway: Three weeks in jail doing hard labor, and a one-year loss of license. Second offense and license is revoked for life.

Finland and Sweden: Automatic jail for one year doing hard labor.

Costa Rica: Police remove plates from car.

Russia: License revoked for life.

England: One-year suspension of license, a $250 fine, and jail for one year.

France: Three-year loss of license, one year in jail, and a $1,000 fine.

Poland: Jail, fine, and forced to attend political lectures.

Bulgaria: A second conviction results in execution.

El Salvador: This country is unique in that it has absolutely no repeat offenders: drunk driving is punishable by execution by firing squad.

El Salvador
Your first offense is your last---execution by firing squad

warm said "Interesting that many males charged with the same types of crimes aren't being sentenced to this degree". Huh?!? Males typically receive more and longer sentences than females. What are you referring to? Are you living in an alternate universe? I'd love to know the details, do tell!

Education leads to a reduction in recidivism, not teach inmates how to commit crimes and get away with them.

The laws need to change to protect the victims instead of the criminals. She was out on bail from her 3rd offense when she killed that lady.

Yeah, people who break the law now won't conform to any new laws made, because laws are meant to keep honest people honest.

I'm pretty sure the courts made an example of this woman, to show others how tough the law can be, but isn't necessarily this tough consistently, which is where the problem lies.

Oh, ignorance is bliss on this blog.

"we can be told that 2+2=4 so many times before we get it. We all get it, but some chose not to conform."

So if this state passes stricter laws for offenses of OWI / DUI you think those same folks will now conform?

People who break the law DO NOT think of the punishment for breaking said law. Tougher laws are no deterrent.

Yah .......... people need to get off the "education" bit.
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Educating a criminal just makes them better at getting away with crimes

ljs64, please dont make it sound like people are being punished after their 1st,2nd,3rd,or even 4th DUI. Those people that get fined for DUI just think its the cost of driving that way, NOT a punishment. Of course this epidemic have been going on for years. Because offenders dont have a deterent. Impounding the car for 90 days for the 1st offense would be a good start. Education?? we can be told that 2+2=4 so many times before we get it. We all get it, but some chose not to conform.

But it's not.

....highway roulette sure is fun for me and my family .......

BostonBill,No it doesn't make it fair; it also doesn't undo the outcome of her actions. It does however cause otherwise rational people to reflect on all the things in their daily life that does impact others, either in a good way or in a bad one. My point is not only drunk drivers kill, so do inattentive ones as well as immature ones. Sorry if I stepped on the toes of your favorite pet peave.

18 years is not too much. How much is your loved one worth?

Thank you to my friend who asked for a ride a couple of weeks ago. She said there was no way she'd get in her truck after drinking all evening!

I hope this story as tragic as it is makes people wake up and realize that the fear of punishment is NOT a deterrent to people when it comes to driving while intoxicated. All you bleeding hearts that think tougher laws in this state will have an impact on stories like this are sadly mistaken. This epidemic has been going on for years. The BAC has been lowered (0.10 to 0.08), the penalties have been increased and guess what, we are having increases in OWI arrests and injury caused by driving while intoxicated. Wake up people education is the answer, period!

I know the subject has been beat to death about how lax our DUI laws are, but its SURREAL to be the relative of a driver that was just caught for a FIFTH OFFENSE AND THIS PERSON IS STILL ALLOWED TO DRIVE FOR THE NEXT THIRTY DAYS until "court".
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Hey everybody, isn't highway roulette fun?

I lived in Wisconsin for several years and like I've said before, it's like living in the wild, wild west when it comes to drinking, driving, and even smoking in that State. It's as if the health and safety of people who live there is just not as important as being able to do whatever you want, where ever you want, with consequences that no one seems to even act like they're aware of until it's too late? It's sad to think that Wisconsin is so far behind the 8 ball. Sooner or later someone needs to be writing better bills, passing better laws, and aggressively enforcing them. Picked up for DUI 3 TIMES! That's an outrage and there's no excuse for it.

and yet our government is still not ready to change drinking laws in Wi!
This is outragious.. 5 yrs for murder? really?
Im sorry but 3 prior OWI's makes you habitual.. Too bad Im not a judge!
Once you drink and choose to drive (especially for a fourth time) i consider this intentional homicide!
Sorry for Trisha's family. I do not know you, but my heart goes out to you!

coyote: No offense but who do we need "To be fair" to? This article was about a person who already had three drunken driving charges against her; was out on bond; chose to drink and drive AGAIN and ended up killing an innocent person. Is THAT fair?

I know Trisha's family and my heart goes out to them....she was a great person and no family needs to go through this. Three DUI's and it took her fourth to realize that she has a problem...hello! 18 years behind bars with no booze, not being present in her childrens lives, just that alone does not seem enough and it will never bring Trisha back..RIP Trisha and may your family find comfort that this court process is over.

To be fair, it is not only drunk drivers who kill others on the highways. It is any type of distraction, or cause of inattention. Impaired is illegal, true enough but negligence is also inexcusable.

She may have recognized that she had a problem but she evidently didn't care.

at least she recognizes she has a problem with alcohol. please...like most alcoholics im sure she realized she had a problem b4 she got her first...or second drunk driving. i dont think 18 years is enough but based on the slaps on the wrist alot of drunk driving murderers get this seems above average.

Perhaps prison time should have been implemented sooner. (How's that for showing restraint?)