US Drinking Age

[Frobozz]

Originally posted by Reshad
While my thoughts on the Drinking subject can get in depth I can sum up the key points:

Drinking age 18? Sure, your choice, but beware the consequences.

Drinking and Driving = Attempted Murder/Suicide
Death as Direct Result of Drinking and Driving = Murder/Suicide
...and they should be legally punished under those definitions.

Im a prosecutor and I do not see any way to make that work...

Murder is the actual intent to kill someone. IE. "Im going to kill you, I mean it."

That doesn't mean that you couldn't make the penalties higher, harder, and more strick.

In Ohio they start getting rough after the third offense in 5 years, and start going up exponentially after that.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Joreth
In Ohio they start getting rough after the third offense in 5 years, and start going up exponentially after that.

Five years is a reasonable period to count offenses over. I'd probably recommend ten, but definitely not one.

[Reshad]

Originally posted by Joreth
Im a prosecutor and I do not see any way to make that work...

Murder is the actual intent to kill someone. IE. "Im going to kill you, I mean it."

That doesn't mean that you couldn't make the penalties higher, harder, and more strick.

In Ohio they start getting rough after the third offense in 5 years, and start going up exponentially after that.

I don't even pretend to be "in the know" about legal categories when it comes to homicide/murder, but in my mind drinking and driving is similar to the following situation:

A man sits on a bridge with an assult rifle and takes aim at the city skyline nearby, not at anyone or anything in particular, and starts shooting at random. Granted many shots may hit nothing living, but if he does end up hitting someone and they die, does the fact he wasn't aiming at them in particular make it an accident? He did something *knowing* that it could result in someone's death and that he shouldn't do it.

The same is true of drunk driving. People *know* that doing so can easily result in their death or that of another person (or persons), but they do it anyway. Even though they didn't mean to kill that specific person, they still chose a course of action knowing it could be a result.

I'll leave it to the more legally capable to figure out how it all gets categorized, but until drunk driving stops being treated as essentially a misdemenor people aren't going to take it seriously.

[Rilthyn]

Originally posted by Aristotle
Massively increase DUI penalties. First DUI is a mandatory 1 year in prison. No exceptions. Sorry Michael Phelps. Second DUI, 2-10 years in prison. Third, life. All DUI convictions are published on the front page of the local newspaper and announced on all location TV and radio news stations. Also, a web site would be created nationwide to track all DUI offenses. It would be publicly searchable. You could also enter your address and find all DUI offenders near you. It would be like a sex crime offender list.

Then...

Originally posted by Aristotle
Legalize drugs and stop putting people in prison for smoking pot or killing themselves with crack. The last time I read up on this somewhere between 60-80% of our inmates are in for drug related non-violent crimes. Ridiculous.

So?

One DUI = A year in prison.
Three DUIs = Life in prison.
Cracky the crackhead = No prison.

I don't think I've ever seen this combination of opinions ever before.

Do you seriously believe that a single DUI should incur a years prison sentence, no exceptions?
Do you seriously believe that a third DUI should incur a life prison sentence?
Are you just stating that position to display how strongly you are against drunk driving?

It sounds as though the current approach to deal with drunk drivers is completely ineffectual, but you don't correct that by going to the other extreme.

By the way, I wholeheartedly agree with your position regarding non-violent drug users, prison should be a place for those who take advantage of, or are a danger to others, not people who harm only themselves.

[Aristotle]

Originally posted by Rilthyn

So?

One DUI = A year in prison.
Three DUIs = Life in prison.
Cracky the crackhead = No prison.

Yeah, sounds good.

Cracky is only killing himself.

DUI idiot is killing people's moms, dads, and kids.

I don't care when people kill themselves. More power to 'em. Give out free crack to the crack heads as far as I care. I only care when they start killing innocent bystanders.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Aristotle
Yeah, sounds good.

Cracky is only killing himself.

DUI idiot is killing people's moms, dads, and kids.

I don't care when people kill themselves. More power to 'em. Give out free crack to the crack heads as far as I care. I only care when they start killing innocent bystanders.

Cyanide-laced crack then?

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Reshad
A man sits on a bridge with an assult rifle and takes aim at the city skyline nearby, not at anyone or anything in particular, and starts shooting at random. Granted many shots may hit nothing living, but if he does end up hitting someone and they die, does the fact he wasn't aiming at them in particular make it an accident? He did something *knowing* that it could result in someone's death and that he shouldn't do it.

The terms differ in various places, but that would be considered some variant of manslaughter, possibly with criminal negligence. I think the negligence side of it is the crime, but I'm no legal expert either. Joreth, the floor is yours. I'd like to keep the walls and ceiling though.

[Sugayon]

I'm all for the drinking age being 18. I stopped drinking as much after I turned 21. It just wasn't as fun I guess, hehe.

[Theairoh]

Originally posted by Aristotle

Cracky is only killing himself.

Aroo?

Drug related murders are all the rage last I checked. Drugs are a huge business and you obviously aren't counting all the murders that occur due to the competitive nature of drug dealing if you think Cracky is only killing himself. That's ALL blood money son. Drugs usually also means organized crime which leads to other areas such as prostitution, human trafficking, smuggling, theft, etc. It's actually a good starting business for criminals too.

Also, a single year in prison is pretty much easier going than the usual consequences of a DUI offender now, especially a mutiple. Excepting of course if they happen to preform manslaughter or get in any kind of dangerous accident during their incursion.

[Dalaena]

Originally posted by Theairoh

Drug related murders are all the rage last I checked. Drugs are a huge business and you obviously aren't counting all the murders that occur due to the competitive nature of drug dealing if you think Cracky is only killing himself. That's ALL blood money son. Drugs usually also means organized crime which leads to other areas such as prostitution, human trafficking, smuggling, theft, etc. It's actually a good starting business for criminals too.

That's the whole point of legalizing it as was stated in the post we're discussing. The BUSINESS around crack is what slaughters people and it's usually between people who are involved in the business. Every now and then an innocent gets taken out in the middle of it all. Legalize it, and Cracky is killing only himself.

Alcohol IS legal, and it's slaughtering innocent bystanders on a fairly regular basis.