We support legislative efforts to require Missourians convicted of driving while intoxicated to complete victims' impact panels.
Drinking and driving is anything but a victim-less crime. Those who drink and drive not only risk their own safety, but also everyone else on the roadways.
Requiring offenders to attend victim impact panels is a good element of restorative justice - giving criminals the opportunity to make amends and reconcile with their victims and their communities.
Last year, a proposal requiring each DWI offender to attend a victims' impact panel passed the Legislature. However, it then was vetoed by Gov. Eric Greitens because it was part of a bill covering too many subjects, which violates the Missouri Constitution.
This year, Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, is sponsoring a bill that would again seek to do the same thing.
On Tuesday, we reported a Senate committee considering the bill heard testimony from Johanna Olsen Henry, who supports legislation known as "Toby's Law." Her brother, Toby Olsen, 17, and mother Jean Olsen, 45, were killed in 2007. Their van was hit on a Sunday morning by a drunk driver on Route C in Russellville as the family was heading home from church.
Johanna Olsen Henry and her father, Eric Olsen, survived the crash.
"I do speak at victim impact panels, and I provide pictures of the car wreck that were never released to the media, because they are incredibly gory," Henry told senators Monday afternoon. "Over the 10 years of being a part of these victim impact panels, I've seen a lot of offenders who come back, who have quit drinking."
She said the panels are informational, "non-confrontational, so it's not judging (people) or anything like that."
Under the bill, the DWI offenders would pay the typically $25 fee to attend the program, Emery said. He said various locations around the state already provide such programs, so the longest anyone would have to drive would be just over 1 hour.
This proposal would be an opportunity for healing on all sides of the crime.