The stakes have just been raised for people who choose to drink and drive in Montezuma County. A new addition to DUI and DWUI sentencing, the Victim Impact Panel, puts offenders face to face with victims of drunk-driving accidents.

Cortez Addictions Recovery Services (CARS) Counselor Robin McGee said the panel is made up of victims whose loved ones have been killed, or persons who were injured themselves, in alcohol-related accidents. The panel also includes law-enforcement and emergency medical personnel who continually experience the effects of alcohol-related crashes. The panel includes a graphic slide show of local accidents and the victims involved.

"It’s non-judgmental," McGee said." "It’s just people sharing how it has personally affected their lives."

The panel meets the last Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Justice Building in Cortez. McGee said the first meeting was held in November and that the potential for having a beneficial impact was evident from the first.

"The offenders were visibly moved by it," McGee said. " Two were crying, and it was evident in their body language."

The offenders aren’t the only ones to benefit from the panel, though, McGee said; the panel offers victims an opportunity to heal as well.

"It isn’t just one side for prevention (of DUI)," she said. "It’s therapeutic for the victims."

McGee said there is always a therapist on hand to help victims if they need support after talking about their loss.

"The subject matter will always be intense, but it helps them a lot to talk about it," she said.

Colorado State Trooper Mike McGuire has served on the Victim Impact panel in Durango as well as on the first Cortez panel and said he believes the panels have a powerful impact on DUI offenders.

"We fully endorse the program and help in any way we can," McGuire said. "It gets kind of frustrating. I’ve pulled over the same people, two and three times,."

In a one-year study of DUI offenders who experience the panel in Durango, the percentage of repeat offenders dropped from 11 to 1 percent.

"People were worried about getting stopped or arrested, and not about killing or maiming someone," he said.

Both McGee and McGuire said they hope the panel brings an emotional and human side to drunk-driving accidents.

"Having a name and face to remind us why it’s illegal to drive drunk is important," McGee said.

McGuire attended his first panel three years ago and said he was profoundly moved..

"I saw a victim who was a 19-year-old girl that looked just like my daughter," McGuire said. "I said right then, ‘How else can I make an impact?’"

McGuire said he feels it is important to stress that the panel is not about alcohol use, but citizens’ responsibility not to drink and drive.

"We don’t care if they drink," he said. "And driving is an everyday part of life. It’s just the combination we’re concerned with."

McGuire added that he thinks the offenders attending the panels benefit in a number of ways. "I call them the lucky ones, because we’ve gotten to them before they kill or maim themselves," McGuire said.

Response forms written by the offenders after the experience reflect that, he said :"Ninety-nine percent of them are to the effect of thankful after the session."

McGuire said drunk-driving accidents kill more people than any other type of violent crime, and the panel is effective in relaying that message.