Everyday, sociology class starts off talking about what is going on in the world around us. Usually it is just small topics like “Oh! There’s a swim meet today” or “Miley Cyrus’ performance at the VMA’s.” One day last month was different: the class talked about how one young man killed four people and didn’t even have any jail time because he was “too rich to know the consequences.” Everyone’s opinions were almost the same, “That is ridiculous.” “How can that happen?” “He should have definitely go to jail at least for some time.” “He needs some sort of therapy.”
On June 15, Ethan Couch, a 16- year-old from Keller, Texas, killed 4 innocent people and severely injured two of his best friends while drinking and driving.
According to the New York Daily News, Couch and his seven friends were driving around in a Ford F-350 truck in the early morning (two of the friends were in the bed of the truck). While intoxicated, he was going 70 miles per hour in a 40 zone.
He ended up crashing into two parked cars. He instantly killed four innocent people (not passengers), which resulted in them flying 60 yards into midair. In addition, the two passengers in the bed of the truck were severely injured; one of the passengers is now paralyzed and can only communicate by blinking and the other is now in a coma. In addition, his car crash led to chain-reaction of many other car crashes. Before the accident occurred, Couch and his friends were caught on video stealing alcohol from a nearby Walmart.
According to Huffington Post, Couch’s blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was .24. That means he was three times over the adult limit, which is .08. There was also Valium, an illegal drug (without prescription) that is used as a tranquilizer, in his system. Prosecutors were trying to get Couch 20 years of jail time. Couch pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault. Luckily for Couch, with the help of a top-notch lawyer, he had to pay a $450,000 fine and was only sentenced to 10 years of probation on December 10, 2013.
His lawyer said that Couch’s parents spoiled him and he never had any consequences in his life. He was diagnosed with “Affluenza,” defined by Google as “a psychological malaise supposedly affecting wealthy young people, symptoms of which include a lack of motivation, feelings of guilt, and a sense of isolation.”
Also according to Huffington Post, defense psychologist Dr. G. Dick Miller defended Couch and said that he should not have to go to jail for his manslaughter.
“His family felt that wealth brought privilege and there was no rational link between behavior and consequences,” Dr. Miller said.
Senior Tori Salzwedel thinks that the punishment Couch received was ridiculous and disappointing.
“It is crazy that just because he is spoiled wealthy he can get away with murder,” she said.
Senior Sydney Mudd also agrees that the judge’s decision was absurd and thinks that Couch should have definitely gone to jail at least for some time.
“I think that it is sad that our justice system allows outrageous excuses, like Affluenza, to let people escape from the necessary consequences,” she said. “It is disappointing that a certain group of people (the upper class/wealthy) get away with things like murder while if someone from a lower class were to commit the same crime, [he or she] would have been more harshly reprimanded.”
