Too Rich to Pay the Price for Killing Four People

Rain

The comfort made him do it. That was the successful defense strategy used by a Texas teenager sentenced Tuesday to 10 years of probation after he killed four people in a June drunk-driving accident. According to news reports, a psychologist hired by 16-year-old Ethan Couch said the teenager was a victim of “affluenza,” a condition caused by the sort of absurdly permissive home life that comes with being wealthy. The lenient sentence—prosecutors had sought up to 20 years in prison—prompted anger by the victims’ families and others. These things tend to happen in free-market capitalist societies, said Oliver James, a British psychologist and author of Affluenza: How to Be Successful and Stay Sane. Wealth skews perceptions of right and wrong, he said. “America teaches people that greed is good,” James said. “There are very few parents who don’t imbue their children with some values, but what those values are is another story. Bernie Madoff’s children were undoubtedly given a model that money is king.” Though, notably, Madoff's kids turned him in. Couch likely will be sent to a California alcohol-treatment center that costs nearly $500,000 per year, news outlets reported. His blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit, and he was driving about 70 mph in a 40 mph zone when he killed four people standing near the side of a road. Nine others were also injured. The Dallas-area teen was charged with manslaughter. Jan Withers, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said he should have faced murder charges and been sent to prison. “The families were very disappointed, and I personally was very disappointed in the verdict handed down to him,” said Withers, whose 15-year-old daughter was killed by a 17-year-old drunk driver. “We wish he had been held more accountable. He could get the help he needs and still be held accountable.” Although research has shown the justice system routinely imposes harsher sentences on poor African-American defendants than on wealthier whites, young people of any race or income level should be treated with sensitivity, said Regina Austin, a University of Pennsylvania law professor who has written about the roles of race and class in criminal law. “There is a concern that overindulgence of children will not produce the kinds of responsible citizens we want,” said Austin. But it's worth considering that, whether rich or poor, “young people can be stupid,” she said. Couch is not the only defendant to blame income levels for criminal actions, she said. But most of the time the defense is used by poor minorities. “That idea has been used by some minority defendants—‘If I were rich and white, I wouldn’t be prosecuted for this,’ ” Austin said. “You could say a rotten social background defense is comparable to the affluenza defense.” You could also say they're exact opposites. http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/12/12/affluenza-disease-makes-rich-people-kill?cmpid=tp-ad-outbrain-general

Ken_Light

Ok, fine. Now charge the parents with manslaughter through giving their kid affluenza.

webmost

retarded

jd50ae

It use to be that being poor was the excuse, remember those days..?

And msnbc is blaming Ambassador Stevens for his own murder.....anyone seeing a trend here. You know, like the truth does not matter, and taking personal responsibility is out the window.

Ken_Light

Generally the problem here is that we need to do away with the concept of free will. It simply does not exist. Most worry that means we're not responsible for our actions and therefore should not be imprisoned. Quite the opposite is true, in fact, because we also need to do away with the concept of prison as rehabilitation. If we did want to attempt to change people, it would take a 1984-type reprogramming facility, not our current prison system. I'm all for that, but I doubt others would be, as it would be seen as torturous and unethical. Finally, we need to do away with the concept of a legal system as retribution or trying to make wrongs right. That's a juvenile sentiment, harming a second does not un-harm the first. Two wrongs and all that. Instead, we need a legal system that is preventative; one that removes those who through past behavior we have come to know could do future harm. Through this we discontinue prosecution of truly accidental behavior and truly ignorant mistakes. Those things do not predict future behavior and should not be prosecuted in a preventative legal system.

Rain

I'd imagine that somewhere else in the world, people actually fear going to jail.

Gray4lines

"These things tend to happen in free-market capitalist societies, said Oliver James, a British psychologist and author of Affluenza: How to Be Successful and Stay Sane. Wealth skews perceptions of right and wrong, he said."

I would completely disagree with that. Money is a tool. How someone uses it reveals their sense of right and wrong. This boy obviously lacks any.

jd50ae

Rain:

I'd imagine that somewhere else in the world, people actually fear going to jail.

In some places they are lucky if they make it to jail. Maybe a little drastic for the US but I would love to see jails and prisons treat the inmates as criminals and not provide all the amenities that they do. Of course all the XXXXXXX judges and trickster lawyers don't help either. H*ll we even give benefits to illegals that law abiding tax paying citizens don't get. I fear that we have been led down a primrose path by a bunch of, well, completely brainwashed (assumption there, about having a brain) full fledged twits (to put it mildly). Whose fault is it..? We keep voting in people because they make pretty speeches but are of no real substance. One of my favorite quotes, "never underestimate the power of large groups of stupid people".

I will stop now before I tell you what I really think and get booted off this forum.

Bob_Luken

It boils down to excuses. "Don't blame my client. Why? Because he was wrongly influenced by bad people, things and circumstance. And for that we shouldn't hold him fully responsible."

Rain

Voting is a joke, there is no accountability. God forbid you actually do things that you said you were going to do when you needed my vote.