The article, "A Drunken Ride" brings to light many questions about the legal system of our country and its apparent leniency. In the article, a boy makes the decision to drive intoxicated with four other friends in his vehicle. As the night progresses he ends up in a collision and as a result, many people loose their lives. .
One of the biggest issues here is to what end do we need to punish our children when they make mistakes. Are their minds still open to change? Are they able to recognize that they made a mistake and make amends, or do they need to be punished long into their adult life for a mistake that was made while the law still considered them unable to make decisions for themselves? The law does not recognize a person as being able to make a major decision for themselves until they reach the age of majority, which in most states is 18, however, more and more minors are committing so-called adult crimes, like Tyson Baxter. .
In light of recent events in the media, it is long past time to take a long hard look at the punishment phase for the criminal justice system. Sometimes the system can be overly harsh and abusive, while at others it can be far too lenient. Where is the medium found?.
In this situation, Mr. Baxter ended up helping four people to meet their ultimate fate with death, and causing injuries to others. Some of these were so bad that even their parents would have been hard pressed to identify the remains of their children. In fact, one such child was only identifiable due to the size of his shoes. Identification was also difficult due to the fact that many of the teenagers had fake ID's. .
The severity of the punishment cannot be established until all factors of the incident have been examined, starting with the collision itself. There were a total of eight people in the SUV, including the driver. All seven passengers got into the vehicle willingly, knowing that the driver himself was intoxicated.
