A Tarrant County judge (Fort Worth, TX for you foreigners) sentenced a teenage boy to 10 years of probation after he killed 4 people and perhaps permanently injured 2 of his passengers in a drunk driving accident. At the time of the accident the teen had a blood alcohol level 3 times the adult limit and Valium in his bloodstream.
This "joy" ride started out with the teen stealing beer from a local Walmart and was driving a Ford F-350 registered to his dad's company. The defense attorney argued that the boy suffered from Affluenza. This very serious disease is caused by being born to incredibly rich parents who don't teach you that actions have consequences.
To teach the boy a lesson, the judge sentenced him to 10 years of probation and a stint at a $450,000 a year rehab center in California chosen by the family. WOW did she lay down the law on him.
Affluenza - Are there shots available.
It may be slowly changing, but for the most part, Americans don't seem to mind this and accept lighter taxes and special treatment for the wealthy. Everyone thinks they're going to be the one to hit the $586 million jackpot, and they don't want Uncle Sam taking too big a chunk of it.
Yes, but the distribution of wealth is what gets nations in deep trouble. We, in the U.S. right now, have a bigger discrepancy between the haves and the have-nots than Czarist Russia before their revolution. All the tax laws and many other laws have been skewed to favor the wealthy who get their wealth through passive means - on paper - no work to do - hired lawyers and tax experts (to say nothing about the hired politicians) see to it that the wealthy continue to amass enormous wealth beyond any logical reason for it, other than GREED.
Money talks everywhere in the world, rjzip. Always has and probably always will. It may talk a little louder in the US ....
The pursuit of money is the major problem in the U.S. It pollutes our politics, it distorts justice (as in this case), and it continues to grind the poor down and to reduce the possiblities for the middle class.
Interesting to note that in 2012, Judge Jean Boyd sentenced a black youth to 10 years in juvenile prison, for the death of a man. He punched him in the face, causing the man to fall and hit his head. Yet this kid kills 4 people and gets sent to a country club rehab facility. If he is a victim of Affluenza, then his parents should serve the 10 year prison term for creating the problem, (infecting him with Affluenza). Just goes to show the best justice money can buy even with the worse defense since the twinkie defense.
Ridiculous. And by letting him off so easy, the judge just reinforces the message that yes, the wealthy are treated differently. He should have been sent to juvie until he was 18. If he had been a year older when this happened, he probably would have gotten 20 years.