Anthony Zurcher, an editor for “Echo Chamber” published in BBCNews, wrote the article “Affluenza Defense: Rich Privileged, and Unaccountable” in response to a Texas judge’s ruling on a controversial case. This case was about a 16-year-old boy, Ethan Couch, who drove with a “blood-alcohol level three times above the legal limit” (283), lost control of his pick-up truck and killed four pedestrians. Couch’s lawyers argued that he lacked a sense of responsibility because of his absent, wealthy parents and the lavish lifestyle he lived. This argument led the judge to sentence Couch to a drug rehabilitation center, paid for by his parents, and 10 years probation. There are many other cases similar to Couch’s where the perpetrator would receive a …show more content…
This is an interesting question to pose because Zurcher can see the inequality in the justice system, especially when it came to the case of Ethan Couch. Rather than allowing this teenage boy to take responsibility for his actions, money ultimately made the decision for him. Couch did wrong by drinking and driving and did even worse when he killed four people. Time and time again, it is shown that those who have money oftentimes come out of the courtroom with better news than those who are not as financially secure. If someone has money, they will be able to pay for the best lawyers out there. These lawyers can sometimes be swayed with money and argue points that would not always hold up well in court. Points such as Couch having a “diminished sense of responsibility,” however, are presented in a way that would have anyone believe that they are logical. On the other hand, those with less money are appointed public defenders. These lawyers do not always have their clients best interests at heart because they are either handling many cases at once or they are not being paid as much as the private defenders. Either way, people with less money have a greater chance of ending up with a more severe sentence than those who have money that can buy their way out of certain …show more content…
The system is meant to give children of a young age a second chance at life after their sentence is completed. A child’s life should not end at the age of 16 because they have committed a crime in their adolescent years. They should have the chance to change their ways and find a solution to re-enter society. Couch now has a second chance because of the system. He can use this second chance to help in the fight against drunk driving since he has a unique point of view on the topic. This still does not excuse what he did, instead, it is taking a negative situation and turning it around to help decrease the likelihood of something like this happening again. Although, it is not guaranteed that he will come out of rehab a changed man who can be re-integrated back into society. Couch’s life may or may not be made easier because of money, either way, that is how it will be for the rest of his life. His wealth will lead him to unfair treatment and help him escape the basic aspects of human life. Attending a rehabilitation center and spending 10 years on probation will never equate to the true punishment he
The issue showcased as a bad reputation in the American society, along with the individual's greed towards money and distrust of lawyers. A similar incident occurred as Haltom and McCann bring up the topic of the McDonald’s coffee incident, as someone spilled a hot cup of coffee on them and ended up winning the case with a huge cash out. As a whole, the issue surrounds the greed of the stupidity of an individual, along with their blame towards others as they seem to be the “victim” in this
White privilege negatively impacts social justice which can lead to irreversible actions. Hillary Clinton once said, “If a country doesn't recognize minority rights and human rights, including women's rights, you will not have the kind of stability and prosperity that is possible.” We are all equals, whether we are woman, have a disability or are coloured. We all deserve the same rights. Without social injustice, life would be made fair.
The decision overturned Betts v. Brady, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black stated that “reason and reflection require us to recognize that in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person hauled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him.” He further wrote that the “noble ideal” of “fair trials before impartial tribunals in which ever defendant stands equal before the law . . . cannot be realized if
This paper explores Chris Hayes’ book, “A Colony in a Nation” (2017), a piece of literary work that attempts to analyze and explore the complex relationship between what Hayes refers to as two separate Americas: the Colony and the Nation. Chris Hayes is a liberal political commentator, journalist, author, and host of ‘All In with Chris Hayes,’ a weekday news an opinion show on MSNBC. By looking at the issue from a historical, social, and political perspective, he attempts to explain how the American justice system came to be what it is today. By using examples of racial conflict, incorporated with his own experiences with policing and the court system, Hayes shows how fear, especially fear of ‘the Other’ causes a multitude of problems at the societal level, a concept I have studied in the past. Most importantly, based off of various statistics and research, he makes the argument that inequality in America hasn’t improved as much as people would like to think it has since the 1960s.
To be a privileged Caucasian male in America is to be found guilty of three counts of sexual assault and receive a recommended sentence of six years out of the maximum fourteen that these crimes carry. Brock Turner is the privileged student of Stanford University that ended up being sentenced to only six months out of the six years but, only served a brief ninety days in county jail. People vs. Turner features young college student Brock turner and his crimes of sexual assault against an unconscious ‘Jane Doe’ behind a garage dumpster. Although physical and eyewitness testimony concluded that Jane Doe was unconscious during the time of the assault and for the following hours, Brock Turner stated the encounters were consensual. As the case unraveled
In conclusion, Couch should be tried as an adult because of the severity of the crime.
However, a number of African Americans, who were convicted of a felony, are disproportionately high nowadays. Michelle Alexander considers that It has led to the creation of “a new racial undercaste” (2010). Actually, in our time, discrimination affects every aspect of political, economic, and social life of the people who was charged with a serious criminal offence. In this regard, she mentions the law “banning drug felons from public housing …and denying them basic public benefits for life” (2010). We live in a “colorblind society” that pretends the racial disparity and discrimination do not exist.
In America, a teenager can be easily drawn into witnessing a family member being stabbed to death, trafficked into drug/gang cults, or receive severe damages to his/her physical body. Commonly, these kinds of circumstances call the responsible leaders in our community to action, but in the forgotten part of America, they continue uninterrupted. During the late 1980’s, the United States ranked as a developed nation with a competitive capitalist economy and better living standards for the higher social class. Their promises to defend critical human rights remained unrivaled around the globe; yet the United States still possessed areas with lower class people compressed into high rise projects and who struggled to overcome poverty, violence, and prejudice. The lower class people were often given very little to no resources or the
The history of the modern right to counsel for defendants who cannot afford to pay for counsel or lawyer goes back over a century ago; the Indiana Supreme Court in Webb v. Baird, 6 Ind. 13 (1853), officially recognized the right to counsel for a person accused of a crime. However, this decision was not based on constitutional or statutory law but warranted under “the principles of a civilized society.” Since the case of Webb v. Baird, the courts have immensely extended the right to counsel beyond just appointing an indigent person an attorney. For more than a hundred years, the Right to Counsel Clause was interpreted as simply granting the right to retain a private attorney to a defendant but didn’t mean that a poor criminal defendant had
I choose this case because judicial bias is an awful thing and no judge should be biased. In January 2015 a prior student at West Chester University in Pennsylvania was found guilty of rape and was sentenced to six years in prison. This person was charged six years of prison while Turner was sentenced to six months in jail. They both were found guilty and yet the other person had six times the sentence Turner got. It should not matter if the person is rich or poor, very influential in the community or not, you always need to judge a case by the evidence that is shown.
Prominent people, the rich and famous, do not deserve red carpet or VIP treatment by prosecutors? Families of the rich and famous, or prominent people receive special treatment by the Justice system because of their social status, a system that is supposed to be giving equal justice to everyone regardless of social status. According to Karmen (2016), “certain victims were more likely to be given first class or VIP treatment, while others tend to be neglected, abused, and treated as second-class complainants by the same agencies and officials” (p. 240). In brief, social status decides how law enforcement handles a case.
On Sunday mornings, you wake up early and nothing is on television besides Judge Judy, Divorce Court, or Judge Mathis. The Judges are ruthless and do not seem to have sympathy for anyone. They often yell to boost the ratings of the show. This is merely just an exaggeration of how the court systems work. Judges don’t only have sympathy for the defendants that aren’t financially stable enough to pay for their lawsuit.
Wealth is a possession that many individuals inherit, yet Trevor Noah 's memoir, Born a Crime shows that he worked against all odds in order to gain his wealth. Beginning with his birth as an illegal child, he and his mother were at a disadvantage. As such, she had to hide him from society because if the police caught him, she would face imprisonment. Poverty did not help his situation. In fact, it made him put his plans of getting a university education on pause, and caused him to engage in criminal activities.
The United States prides itself on being a country of opportunities where the underprivileged can rise up and everyone is treated equally, but is that really the case? In reality the income of an individual gives them advantages of going above the system. The sociological explanation of the influence of the wealthy over the criminal justice system is described in the of the Pyrrhic defeat theory written in Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton book The Rich Get Richer and the Poor get Prison Ideology, class and Criminal Justice. The Pyrrhic defeat theory emphasizes the failure of the criminal justice is the consequence of success for those in power, who are taking advantage of the system.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee, 56) We are all guilty of judging others too quickly based on our own assumptions whether it is true or not. People are often judged unfairly because of their skin colour, how much money they make, what gender they are, and other things. Our judgements of others are solely based on stereotypes. In the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan, Briony Tallis is the protagonist who falsely makes the accusation that Robbie Turner is the rapist of Lola Quincey.