D.U.I. murder?

[Lew]

Here's a link (it's all over the news today):

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/lo...ostemailedlink

If I can be a closet socialist here...this case is going to be overturned on appeal because it has to be. We discussed this before. DUI is one of a handful of crimes that are universal, i.e. committed by anyone and everyone. People drink, people drink too much, people get in their cars and drive. All the legislation in the world isn't going to change it.

If it were the type of crime that is primarily committed by a certain "type" of person (you know, like burglary, meth manufacturing, etc.) then you can have all the prison time you want. But DUI....I mean, as we all know, DUIs are earned by Ohio Supreme Court justices, NCAA Div 1 basketball coaches, pro football players, powerful Hollywood actors/directors, you name it.

Justice Resnick isn't going to break into someone's home and steal their prescription meds. She isn't going to make meth in the basement of the Supreme Court building. But she has gotten a DUI, and what if she killed someone? You're telling me that someone like her is going to spend the next 50 years with Liz Carroll in Marysville?

Not a chance. And I know I sound like a socialist here but so be it. There is no way that we're going to start classifying DUI offenders as murderers, because when we do that, eventually an "important" person would be found guilty of murder and that's not how our criminal justice system works.

[gae]

Dammit, Lew! Edumacate yourself on UBB so I can read the threads, OK?

[LanDroid]

"...eventually an 'important' person would be found guilty of murder and that's not how our criminal justice system works."

[img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/shhh.gif[/img]

Not exactly related, but I just heard a statistic on the radio, so you know it's true, that America has a larger prison population than China. Rather shocking considering they have a much larger population and a totalitarian Gov't...

[Lew]

Lan- I don't know if the radio report you heard is accurate, but it wouldn't shock me if it is. And even if not in absolute terms, there's no question that, relatively speaking, we are the incarcerator of all incarcerators.

Now, to be fair about this....in some countries around the world, the "punishment" they offer is far worse than good old-fashioned jailtime. Like your boy that got caned in Singapore....I mean, that took place in public. We don't cane our inmates here (except late at night, by the third shift deputies on duty, and only then because certain inmates have it coming to them [img]wink.gif[/img] ) We're more civilized than that; I've gone over to jail and eaten shrimp with the boys. And I don't mean Mrs. Paul's, I'm talking the good stuff (although before the taxpayer watchdogs start to geek out, bear in mind the jail pays about 1/3 for the shrimp that the public would).

But there's no question, among the "civilized" nations of the world, we are by far the lead signer of the Jailhouse Rock. Though again, that's due in part to cultural differences as well. I was able to speak with a Japanese lawyer one time, and he was talking about how each year the U.S. graduates more law students than the total number of practicing lawyers in Japan. They have just a wee bit more respect for authority than we do. For example, say there are some Japanese punks- ERRRRRR kids standing on the street corner. A police officer walks by, he doesn't like what he sees, he goes over to them, "alright, break it up, boys, scram." Well, he doesn't actually say that because he doesn't speak English, but you get the idea. And, believe it or not, the kids break it up.

Now here, that goes against our grain. And I'm not saying who's right or wrong, it's just a cultural difference. According to the several friends of mine who are teachers, evidently the youth of America these days have just a ton of respect for authority.