A California woman pleaded guilty to child endangerment for using her 13-year-old son as a designated driver. 

The woman, Heather Choulos, had previously been charged with DUI. She and her boyfriend were both in a large Land Rover vehicle when officers noted the driver, in the middle of a busy road, looked underage. The two were leaving dinner and both had been charged with multiple offenses in the past.

Choulos entered a guilty plea for endangerment in exchange for the dismissal of a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and allowing a minor to drive. 

A charge of child endangerment, though taken very seriously, may be treated less aggressively than a repeat DUI charge in the state of California. A fourth DUI conviction in the state is an automatic felony charge if it happens within 10 years of the prior conviction. Child endangerment under Penal Code section 273a, though, is very rarely charged as a felony.

The minimum sentencing for a child endangerment charge is two years of probation and completion of a child abuse and safety class. On the other hand, the minimum penalty for a felony DUI in California is 120 days in jail, 18 months of alcohol treatment and the loss of a license for up to four years.

Most people would find it extremely wrong to allow a 13-year-old child with no license to operate a motor vehicle. In fact, they would find this to be as dangerous as operating a vehicle while intoxicated. However, the discrepancy in the harsh treatment of repeat DUI offenses compared to child endangerment charges actually rewarded these two individuals for their decision to allow their child to drive home instead of driving themselves. 

Of course, the best decision would have been to take a cab or stay sober. In this instance, though, Choulos likely got off with an easier sentence than if she had been caught behind the wheel herself. This would appear to many analyzing the situation to be a case of unintended consequences of harsh DUI laws. Instead of encouraging a repeat offender to make positive choices about drinking and driving, the laws actually encouraged her to endanger herself and other drivers on the roadway - not to mention the young child.