I don't get the distinction if he does it again then he goes to jail. What purpose does it serve putting him in jail if he fucks up again that is not served by putting him in jail the first time. The fact that he can fuck up again, drink and kill innocent people again is why I want him behind bars. I don't want to see if he fucks up again. Interesting question: Is the judge's job to think what is best for the defendant or to protect the community?
I personally don't think the community is at great risk. You don't need to put a 16 year old in prison for 10 years for him to learn his lesson.
It isn't about learning his lesson. It's about repaying a debt to society. He killed people. This isn't a case of shoplifting or running into a fire hydrant and then leaving the scene of the crime. He killed four people. Those people are gone. He's lucky to be alive at all. He doesn't deserve to go on an live his life like nothing happened.
So if a man robs a bank with a gun, and he accidentally shoots and kills four people, should he not go to jail either? I mean he didn't mean to shoot anyone. He thought the gun was on safety.
4 dead people that would not be dead if he had not driven drunk. That's a huge debt, and he damn sure isn't repaying it by serving probation.
I've always hated that phrase. Incarceration isn't "repaying" anything. With that concept in mind, however, I wouldn't mind a condition of this kid's sentencing being going around to every high school in the area and speaking in assemblies, holding himself up as a cautionary tale of what underage drinking can result in. Say, 2 years in juvy, and 25 "don't be like me" speeches. THAT would be "repaying a debt to society".
Seeing jail time as "repaying a debt" it a huge problem in this country. It makes no sense. How is he repaying a debt by being in jail?
I used to have a professor that said "instead of sending non violent criminals to jail, we should garnish their and their family's wages for the term of the sentence. Give that money to help Government programs. That would be a true repaying of a debt"
Repaying the debt would be taking him out back and hanging him until he stops breathing. I wouldn't do that because he's 16, so he can rot in prison for 25 years and think about not driving drunk.
I'm sure you'd feel the same way if he killed four members of your family. I'm sure you'd feel like justice has been served since he got probation.
He didn't so who knows? That's not the point though. Those dead people aren't coming back whether he goes to prison or not. At 16, I don't think he should go to prison.
So, honest question, what would a 16 year old have to do in order to spend 20-25 years in prison? What crime do you think would warrant that kind of sentence?
