Note: A rich, white, kid, one county over, gets 10 years probation for killing 4 people and crippling another in a DUI accident. A poor, black kid gets 10 years for killing 1 person in a DUI accident, from the same judge. Listen people, probation is no sweet ride. It is a terrible punishment paying all of those fees and the inconvenience of having to report every month to surly probation officers who look at you like you were, you know, a criminal.
I definitely believe in “affluenza” (rich kid’s syndrome) but, I certainly don’t believe it should be a “defense” or a “disease”. I was thinking more like a malaise, for which. the punishment should be “shoot on sight” and “aerial spraying”.
Do I understand the concept correctly?: The Rich lawyer (a poor defendant could never afford) finds a Psychologist. The Psychologist – or was it a psychiatrist? – is probably rich, but rich and famous nevertheless, after this trial. Poor Kids do not have psychologists. They defend the Rich Kid, using a previously unnamed cultural defect that nurtures children who disregard human life because they are just too rich. Bulletproof, corrupted, by wealth and privilege. The Rich just can’t be trusted to raise proper children. What the left says about them in “ad hominem” attacks is really nothing compared to what the Rich will say about themselves to avoid a little prison time for one of their own.
I wonder if this judge has a record of “second chance”, rehabilitative probations, with long, stringent, monitoring and reporting, regardless of their economic position. If she is consistent with these kinds of sentences then, really, I don’t have a problem – in fact, I respect it. That is the intention of juvenile justice. According to retired Judge, John Cruzot, the juvenile system is set up to achieve rehabilitation. Be that as it may, it doesn’t explain the disparity in sentencing in the cases above. Rehabilitation for some and hard time for others.
The illness of affluence afflicts not only Rich Kid behavior but, apparently, the rest of a system that simply can’t see its own class/race biases.
azenyardhen 