Women are closing the gender gap in one more area. According to a new study, the number of women being arrested for DUI has increased substantially over the past few years. The study by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation shows that the number of DUI arrests involving women has increased by a staggering 36% over the last 10 years alone.

The trigger for the study, which was funded by the Century Council, an association of distillers, seems to have been the 2009 New York DUI accident involving Diane Schuler, the woman who drove the wrong way under the influence of alcohol and crashed her car, killing herself, four children in her car and 3 other people. The accident, which received a lot of national media attention, really spotlighted the fact that little attention is paid to prevent women from driving under the influence in this country.

Another intriguing fact that emerged from the study was the profile of the average female drunk driver. These aren't young college-age women binge-drinking with a group of friends. The average female arrested for DUI in the United States is better educated than the average male drunk driver. Not only is she more educated, she's also older than the average male drunk driver. Additionally, these women are the primary caregivers for their children, and hold low-paying jobs. Some experts have tied an increase in alcohol use and drunk driving among women with the stresses of parenting.

Men continue to comprise the majority of DUI arrests in the United States, but the gender gap is definitely narrowing. Not only that, California DUI lawyers are also concerned about the fact that binge drinking among women is on the increase. According to statistics, approximately 39% of young women in the country now routinely engage in binge drinking, an increase of 30% in 3 decades.

The feds have begun to take note. This month, the Department of Transportation’s annual focus on drunk driving is expected to target women drivers.

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It’s a little rare for California criminal defense attorneys to come across a possession of child porn case involving witnesses. A University of Utah professor has pleaded not guilty to charges of watching child porn on his laptop aboard a Boston-bound flight.

Professor Grant Smith is a professor in the University of Utah's materials science and engineering department. He was arrested on Saturday, soon after he disembarked at Boston airport. He was seated in the first class section on the flight when a passenger seated right behind him, found Smith watching child porn images on his laptop. He became concerned, and took cell phone pictures of the professor in the act. The man then informed the flight attendant. The flight attendant e-mailed a relative, and asked the person to inform police. Police were waiting for the professor when the plane landed.

According to prosecutors, when the flight attendant told the professor to turn off his laptop, he became concerned and tried to delete the images of child porn. Police checked the contents of the laptop at the airport, and found several images of nude and semi-new children, including girls as young as 6 years old.

Regardless of the outcome of the case, the penalties against Professor Smith have already begun. Smith has no criminal record, and has been an employee of the University of Utah for the past 14 years. The University has already placed him on administrative leave. If convicted, the university is likely to fire him.

In California, persons who have been convicted of possession of child pornography can face up to one year in a county jail and up to 3 years in state prison. The most devastating consequence may be mandatory registration in a federal sex offender registry for life.

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