UNITED STATES—The legal system in my opinion is a complicated government system to understand. I recall my college years so vividly because I was so close to putting aside my personal goals to challenge myself to go into the legal arena. It was a battle and one that consistently challenged me because of my ‘opinion’ of how I viewed the system. There are two types of legal systems: one for the rich and one for the poor, actually some would argue three. I’ll let you guess what that third system would be.
So why, am I taking issue with the legal system? Because of a story that made national news last week involving a 16-year-old from Texas. I’m sure you’ve heard about it. This story sent rage in my bones, because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My first thought was seriously? First of all, Ethan Couch was driving drunk with multiple people in his vehicle and was high on drugs when he caused a crash that killed four people and injured multiple others.
In my opinion, this is a slam dunk. The first strike is the fact that he was driving drunk which is against the law. Second, he was under the influence of drugs; third, his actions caused the deaths of several people and injured countless others. What was the defenses’ argument? He was a victim of ‘affluenza,’ growing up with rich parents. Wow. I am so heated at the judge who made this decision, like seriously, your credibility as a judge or someone who is supposed to ensure justice. How could this kid, who KILLED four people while drunk driving on be given 10 years probation for this? This is outrageous, and what’s scary is that this kid won’t learn his lesson, and neither will his parents.
There are indeed consequences for your actions. He may have gotten away on a criminal level, but I’m almost certain that the teen and his family will face multiple civil lawsuits and so should they. If the families of these victims are unable to get justice on a criminal level, they should take action to sue the family for every single dime they have. It’s not right, and I would have hammered into that kid. If I was the judge, the juror, the prosecutor, I would have reminded him “That you killed FOUR PEOPLE. I want you to be reminded each and every day of your life and that you are responsible for taking the lives of several people because of your senseless, careless behavior. You may have been given a slap on the wrist, but be warned: you will have a day of reckoning to answer to; and if the guilt of your actions doesn’t haunt you the rest of your life, I have no idea what will.”
Couch is expected to head to a posh rehab facility to get treatment,He doesn’t need treatment, he need s hard dose of reality. His parents need to take significant actions to put the brakes on their son’s out of control behavior. This case scares me to death because of the message it sends to society that if you have loads of money, you can easily get yourself out of any criminal activity that you may face. I mean heck, look what happened to the teen in Texas, quite a few defendants will say. So I guess in all truth ‘MONEY’ is indeed the root of all evil.
Everyone wants more of it and for some stupid reason; we as a society are willing to do almost anything, even sell our soul to the Devil to get it. This is a sad, sad day in our nation. I’ve lost hope in our legal system, it seriously has turned into a something to shake my head at, not praise.
