Two news items on the AM news this morning caught my ear, and then my heart, and then my brain, and finally my emotions. One item was about a two-year old accident in Red Deer, in which a drunk driver killed a couple and left their five children orphaned. The second concerned an accident last year near Grande Prairie, in which a drunk driver hit a car load of high school football players, killing four of them and maiming the fifth.
In the first case, the driver was given a three year sentence, and released after having served 18 month. Life in Alberta is, apparently, quite cheap. The accident tore apart the lives of five children, and their aunt, who gave up her career in Vancouver to adopt and raise the children. The driver's needs were cared for carefully; he even got last Christmas out of jail to spend with his family!
The slaughter of the high school football players is just entering the preliminary hearing stage, to see if the case is worthy of a trial! There seems to be no guarantee that the perpetrator in this case will even get a jail sentence!
All of this hooks my emotions, specifically, rage. I cannot fathom a system that is able to overlook the actions of an inebriated person while operating a vehicle, and allow them to return to their life with no responsibility for the support or compensation of the family shattered by their actions. Defraud someone of money, and you will definitely do time; kill a group with your car while bombed, and you'll serve a minimal jail sentence, with no ongoing responsibility for the wreckage left behind your accident.
I had assumed that the Canadian justice had caught up with community values regarding the operation of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. I was certainly wrong about that! Now I am wondering who to contact to support efforts to pressure legislators to change the laws regarding penalties and compensation in drunk driving convictions. Since the lives of victims are affected for the remainder of their days, it seems reasonable for the life of a perpetrator to affected long after the event as well. Jail sentences are one thing, and probably should be more severe, but a family left to struggle without parents needs financial support for twenty years at least. Chad Olsen, the driver in question, should be coughing up big bucks monthly to care for the children whose lives he ruined.
I'm sure this last bit sounds pretty draconian, but it seems reasonable to me that since the effects of an action carry on for many years, the effects of that action - a chosen action (driving while drunk) - should be extended over time to assist recovering victims. Maybe I'll call M.A.D.D. Perhaps I'll write to the Premier, or my MLA. No use trying to reach my MP. He's on vacation, or in a committee, or otherwise occupied. He hasn't answered the letter I wrote him 8 weeks ago yet!
Any thoughts out there on this matter? Any useful proposals?
In the first case, the driver was given a three year sentence, and released after having served 18 month. Life in Alberta is, apparently, quite cheap. The accident tore apart the lives of five children, and their aunt, who gave up her career in Vancouver to adopt and raise the children. The driver's needs were cared for carefully; he even got last Christmas out of jail to spend with his family!
The slaughter of the high school football players is just entering the preliminary hearing stage, to see if the case is worthy of a trial! There seems to be no guarantee that the perpetrator in this case will even get a jail sentence!
All of this hooks my emotions, specifically, rage. I cannot fathom a system that is able to overlook the actions of an inebriated person while operating a vehicle, and allow them to return to their life with no responsibility for the support or compensation of the family shattered by their actions. Defraud someone of money, and you will definitely do time; kill a group with your car while bombed, and you'll serve a minimal jail sentence, with no ongoing responsibility for the wreckage left behind your accident.
I had assumed that the Canadian justice had caught up with community values regarding the operation of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. I was certainly wrong about that! Now I am wondering who to contact to support efforts to pressure legislators to change the laws regarding penalties and compensation in drunk driving convictions. Since the lives of victims are affected for the remainder of their days, it seems reasonable for the life of a perpetrator to affected long after the event as well. Jail sentences are one thing, and probably should be more severe, but a family left to struggle without parents needs financial support for twenty years at least. Chad Olsen, the driver in question, should be coughing up big bucks monthly to care for the children whose lives he ruined.
I'm sure this last bit sounds pretty draconian, but it seems reasonable to me that since the effects of an action carry on for many years, the effects of that action - a chosen action (driving while drunk) - should be extended over time to assist recovering victims. Maybe I'll call M.A.D.D. Perhaps I'll write to the Premier, or my MLA. No use trying to reach my MP. He's on vacation, or in a committee, or otherwise occupied. He hasn't answered the letter I wrote him 8 weeks ago yet!
Any thoughts out there on this matter? Any useful proposals?
i agree that the drivers should pay financial compensation for many years. Jail is almost useless, tho a short sentence is perhaps reasonable as "punishment" - but stupid as it is to be drunk at the wheel, these were accidents and not deliberate. However, i agree that significant financial compensation is required and should on for, perhaps, the rest of the drivers' lives. I would note that in many countries, it is a given that one pays financial compensation, often very large, for such accidents, and jail time is not an issue at all. One thing I would say: if you mentally put yourself in the place of the families who have lost someone in a crime or accident like this, you immediately realize that there is NO justice, ever, for the victim. No punishment for the criminal can ever replace what the victims have lost. This is the final sorrow of crimes of all types: there really is never any justice for the victim. BUT it still does matter that the criminal pay, ti gives a sense of closure, and also - money IS required and they should pay it.
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