Journalism Entry #4:
Last year, a wealthy, privileged, 16-year-old boy, Ethan Couch, was sentenced to 10 years probation instead of 20+ years in prison for killing four people and paralyzing another during a DUI crash. Couch's attorneys successfully argued that he was suffering from "affluenza" and needed care and rehabilitation instead of prison time. Many people including myself find this sentencing completely outrageous, but I can try to understand the reasoning behind the attorneys' argument and those who support it.
From this case, "affluenza" is now widely known as a condition where someone has too much money to have any common sense or to understand that there are consequences for their actions. If Couch was not properly informed as a child it would be impossible for him to know that his poor decisions are punishable. It is not fair for someone to be punished for something that they didn't know was punishable. Jail time would not help or cure the real cause of this problem, which is his ignorance. Once he gets out of prison, his mindset would not have changed at all. He would still be the same wealthy, privileged individual that he was before, just 20 years older. Instead, Couch needs to be taught that what he did was not right and doing things like that result in punishment. Prison would not teach him this. The only way to do this is through rehabilitation with psychologists who care and can do the job that the parents didn't do, teaching about the real world. According to Couch's attorneys and many other people, "affluenza" is a real condition. I do not agree with this opinion. However, I do believe that understanding and analyzing their thought process as I have above is important, especially since we live in one of the richest counties in the country. There are probably many teenagers who were raised just like Ethan Couch in Loudoun County and are now suffering from what is called "affluenza". If something like this were to happen in this area, I would have a better understanding of such a diagnosis.
Last year, a wealthy, privileged, 16-year-old boy, Ethan Couch, was sentenced to 10 years probation instead of 20+ years in prison for killing four people and paralyzing another during a DUI crash. Couch's attorneys successfully argued that he was suffering from "affluenza" and needed care and rehabilitation instead of prison time. Many people including myself find this sentencing completely outrageous, but I can try to understand the reasoning behind the attorneys' argument and those who support it.
From this case, "affluenza" is now widely known as a condition where someone has too much money to have any common sense or to understand that there are consequences for their actions. If Couch was not properly informed as a child it would be impossible for him to know that his poor decisions are punishable. It is not fair for someone to be punished for something that they didn't know was punishable. Jail time would not help or cure the real cause of this problem, which is his ignorance. Once he gets out of prison, his mindset would not have changed at all. He would still be the same wealthy, privileged individual that he was before, just 20 years older. Instead, Couch needs to be taught that what he did was not right and doing things like that result in punishment. Prison would not teach him this. The only way to do this is through rehabilitation with psychologists who care and can do the job that the parents didn't do, teaching about the real world. According to Couch's attorneys and many other people, "affluenza" is a real condition. I do not agree with this opinion. However, I do believe that understanding and analyzing their thought process as I have above is important, especially since we live in one of the richest counties in the country. There are probably many teenagers who were raised just like Ethan Couch in Loudoun County and are now suffering from what is called "affluenza". If something like this were to happen in this area, I would have a better understanding of such a diagnosis.