"Affluenza"

That lawyer may be too busy with civil suits in the near future to join your staff

Rich kid gets probation for drunk-driving deaths. His defense? 'Affluenza.' (+video) - CSMonitor.com

I refer to the last line in this story.

 

A spoiled brat gets drunk, runs his car into four people standing on the side of the road helping another stranded motorist, killing four. His defense is that he has a case of "Affluenza" i.e. "A failure of his parents to set limits."

Which causes him to do all sorts of stupid bad stuff because there is little or no price to pay for his mistakes or bad behavior.

The judge gives him probation!

So now the judge is guilty of the same thing, correct? The judge failed to set proper limits on bad behavior.

 

Count me in.

 

Totally incomprehensible... but not really a surprise. What kind of message is the judge sending. Is there anyone that would defend that judgement?

 

Absolutely ridiculous!

I'd originally skipped over this thread as I figured the title was no interest to me. I only heard of "affluenza" after seeing a thread at TiVocommunity with the title Steal booze. Get drunk. Kill 4 pedestrians. Probation.

To quote what the OP of that thread there said:

The above article mentions:

More details on the incident at Burleson teen charged with four counts of manslaughter » Local News » Cleburne Times-Review, Cleburne, TX.​

 

I know right? As hard to understand as it is that the parents would let this happen, its trying to figure out what in the heck was going through this judges mind? What a better time than the present to teach this kid what the consequences are for his actions!

 

this aslo is way beyond belief. If the kid is not responsible because his parents let him do anything, then I say put both parents in jail for killing 4 people. Money can take care of anything.

 

The judge has to know their family...

Money... Yeah... where is the justice.

 

I can't see anyone getting the same break for Pooritis.

That's were the judge just throws the book at you, locks you up and throws away the key.

 

She is fixing to retire. Parents just contributed to her retirement fund.

 

If this is new to you, then you have been hiding your head in the sand for quite some time. Yeah it sucks, but that is the way of the US "justice" system. It is the same way from criminal cases to civil cases to business cases. If you have money, you win. It really is that simple.

People have been using this to their advantage for decades as well. To run your competitor out of business, just keep slinging stupid lawsuits at them until the lawyer fees bankrupt them. OJ anyone?

It is outrageous, but it is not new. That's the way this system works and anyone who has been through it knows it too.

 

It's always been the Golden Rule in life.

He who has the Gold, makes the rules and Rules over those who don't.

 

The answer is to finish with enough Gold to take care of your needs.

Every day, you have to ask yourself if you are better off today than you were yesterday.

Over the years, I represented quite a few individuals who were "wrongfully discharged" (fired) from their jobs. They seldom messed with the ones who had money to fight them, and if they did, they settled in the employee's favor.

Most employers "insidiously" want you to be in debt. Such a "hungry" employee is easier to coerce.

 

I guess this local PBS production was run long before your time in Seattle, i.e. 1997:
Affluenza: PBS Program on the Epidemic of Overconsumption

 

"American justice" is an oxymoron

 

I've been to countries in three continents where you had to keep a wad of Monopoly money in your front pocket to pay your way past armed police, so you'll excuse me if I don't join the "America is Evil" mantra.


One of the reasons that DUI (drink driving, for those who drive on the wrong side of the road) is a real CRIME now instead of a civil matter like it was a few decades ago is that our system of jurisprudence tends to be self correcting.
Actually?
I'm surprised that it works as well as it does with all of the morons out there that are fighting camera enforcement and DUI checkpoints.
This is a rich versus poor story writ in blood.

I have a hot news flash for you.
The rich always get better stuff than the poor do, including better legal representation.
Get over it.
We live in a nation where somebody living at the state defined "poverty" level is more affluent than most ALL of the other people on the planet.
(depending on whose numbers you're lying with it's as high as 85% but everybody's numbers are well over half)

The only way you're going to fix that is to take everybody's stuff and dole it out equitably amongst all of the beans on the planet.

Spoiler Alert: Taking everybody's stuff is kinda hard because people kinda like having stuff....but the REAL hard part is re-distributing it equitably!!!
Let me know if you figure that out, because most all of the countries that have tried in the past have wound up with the military check points on dirt roads that I mentioned before.
They don't use enforcement cameras, they use sub-machine guns, and you know what?
Their system of jurisprudence pretty much sucks too.
ETC(SS)' Three laws of life.
1. It's not fair.
2. Your time here on Earth is finite
3. You don't get as much time as you want. See also: Rule #1.

The EU isn't a bad place, but if you think that a little palm grease or winning the lucky-sperm lottery doesn't get you a better deal when you mess up?
You either haven't been there or you're one of the lucky ones.

Besides...they DO have photo-enforcement...and some check points too.

Bitching is fun, and it's what helps keep our legal system eve- evolving.
BECAUSE the self-centered creep in the story comes from a soon to be formerly rich family, we'll probably kick a little rudder input into some DUI laws.
That also wouldn't have happened if the kid were poor.

Remember....sometimes knee-jerk laws can have some unfortunate side-effects, and BECAUSE the poor do not have (and NEVER WILL HAVE) parity in this world, then they will be more negatively impacted by the new laws than the wealthier people do.

Let's see how the kid does in treatment.
You can always shoot him later.