Blind Drunk? - Go to Jail.
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=court%20news&story_id=404034&y=2005&m=6
" A Canberra magistrate has sent a warning to all young drivers that they were likely to go to jail if their dangerous and alcohol-affected driving killed or injured other motorists.
Magistrate Beth Campbell said it was important that the courts publicly denounce driving such as that in June last year by a now 20-year-old Jonathan Kennewell, of Spence, whose 4WD vehicle smashed head-on into another car on the wrong side of Kingsford Smith Drive."
Sad situation all round.
Not only have two people been seriously affected by one man's bad decision (the victims of the accident now suffer long-term disabilities), but that young man's life has been destroyed altogether.
Not to say, of course, that he didn't do the wrong thing. I imagine most young drivers (and probably a hell of a lot of older ones) tend not to weigh the consequences of drink-driving after a few drinks. I wouldn't know, since I don't drive, but hey, I've thought I was trustworthy enough to handle anything when I was drunk - and been wrong more times than I can count. And also, while I'm making my confessions, I must admit that I have willingly convinced people to make those decisions. In a fair world, people like me whom did that would be made to suffer some of the consequences as well.
But one fact remains - youthful innocence can never fully justify drink-driving, especially when people are profoundly affected by that bad decision. There must be some legal consequence.
Jail, however, is not going to improve this young man's situation, nor will it do much inspire him to make better decisions in his future life. Sure, he may hate it, but can one really say that inflicting severe trauma on an already troubled mind is going to make things better? Our prison system is far from providing effective rehabilitation to anyone, being a hotbed for violence, rape and hard drugs - things that can seriously screw people up. When this young man is released, he will have suffered excessively for one bad decision.
Suffered excessively like the victims. The case for imposing harsh sentences on drink-drivers is strong, the simple reason being that these people had risked and/or affected the lives of innocent people. In some cases, lives have been lost - all because someone they might have never known has made a serious misjudgement of their capabilities. But some philosopher has already detailed the case against harsh sentences - an eye for an eye and we'd all be blind.
The taking of a life by a drink driver is rarely pre-meditated, no matter how clear is was to the driver that his brain would not be up to scratch when he got in behind that wheel. The fact that someone has made that decision should not severely impair their chances for a fufilling life. They should, however, be exposed to some form of empathy for the victims so they'll think next time they drink (Oh god, I'm using lines from anti-alcohol ads). Community service, perhaps? Assisting disabled crash victims? Or maybe they could have one of those sessions they have on Oz with the victims - having to give the most distressing apology of their life. That would make me think twice.
Or maybe there's an entirely new, even more effective method, I don't know. But what I do know, however, is that sending someone to jail should always be the last resort. In our prison system's current state, the onl people that should be behind bars are criminal whom are so fucked up that our system cannot do anything to help them.
We have enough of them already. We don't need to make more.
" A Canberra magistrate has sent a warning to all young drivers that they were likely to go to jail if their dangerous and alcohol-affected driving killed or injured other motorists.
Magistrate Beth Campbell said it was important that the courts publicly denounce driving such as that in June last year by a now 20-year-old Jonathan Kennewell, of Spence, whose 4WD vehicle smashed head-on into another car on the wrong side of Kingsford Smith Drive."
Sad situation all round.
Not only have two people been seriously affected by one man's bad decision (the victims of the accident now suffer long-term disabilities), but that young man's life has been destroyed altogether.
Not to say, of course, that he didn't do the wrong thing. I imagine most young drivers (and probably a hell of a lot of older ones) tend not to weigh the consequences of drink-driving after a few drinks. I wouldn't know, since I don't drive, but hey, I've thought I was trustworthy enough to handle anything when I was drunk - and been wrong more times than I can count. And also, while I'm making my confessions, I must admit that I have willingly convinced people to make those decisions. In a fair world, people like me whom did that would be made to suffer some of the consequences as well.
But one fact remains - youthful innocence can never fully justify drink-driving, especially when people are profoundly affected by that bad decision. There must be some legal consequence.
Jail, however, is not going to improve this young man's situation, nor will it do much inspire him to make better decisions in his future life. Sure, he may hate it, but can one really say that inflicting severe trauma on an already troubled mind is going to make things better? Our prison system is far from providing effective rehabilitation to anyone, being a hotbed for violence, rape and hard drugs - things that can seriously screw people up. When this young man is released, he will have suffered excessively for one bad decision.
Suffered excessively like the victims. The case for imposing harsh sentences on drink-drivers is strong, the simple reason being that these people had risked and/or affected the lives of innocent people. In some cases, lives have been lost - all because someone they might have never known has made a serious misjudgement of their capabilities. But some philosopher has already detailed the case against harsh sentences - an eye for an eye and we'd all be blind.
The taking of a life by a drink driver is rarely pre-meditated, no matter how clear is was to the driver that his brain would not be up to scratch when he got in behind that wheel. The fact that someone has made that decision should not severely impair their chances for a fufilling life. They should, however, be exposed to some form of empathy for the victims so they'll think next time they drink (Oh god, I'm using lines from anti-alcohol ads). Community service, perhaps? Assisting disabled crash victims? Or maybe they could have one of those sessions they have on Oz with the victims - having to give the most distressing apology of their life. That would make me think twice.
Or maybe there's an entirely new, even more effective method, I don't know. But what I do know, however, is that sending someone to jail should always be the last resort. In our prison system's current state, the onl people that should be behind bars are criminal whom are so fucked up that our system cannot do anything to help them.
We have enough of them already. We don't need to make more.