Preview

Affluenza Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1011 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Affluenza Research Paper
Have you ever wondered what makes a criminal commit countless crimes? Or maybe you haven’t put to much thought into it? Though everyone is responsible for their own actions, what if the criminal isn’t even considered an adult? What about the minors sitting in Juvenile Detention Centers? What about the minors sitting in adult prisons? What about them? Children still in the care of their parents or other guardians. It brings up the question of if parents/guardians should be held accountable for the child's behavior. Let’s look at the responsibility of parents. Besides the basics of a home and food ect, the overall job of a guardian or parent is to raise the child in loving and caring environment, and to show them the differences between right …show more content…
One that stands out amongst the rest is the case of the “affluenza teen” who had killed four people and injured two while driving drunk. Ethan Couch had been described as being a “victim” of affluenza, which isn’t some terminal disease, nor is it anything like depression. Affluenza is defined as “the unhealthy and unwelcome psychological and social effects of affluence (having great wealth) regarded especially as a widespread societal problem” according to merriam-websters’ dictionary. Affluenza appears in the wealthy, usually happens to lottery winners or people who have suddenly acquired a large sum of money. However it was different for the sixteen you old Ethan Couch who was born into wealth, and whos’ parents hadn’t set any boundaries for him. The court gave him a soft sentence of ten years on probation and attending a rehab. Now, if you thought that helped little Mr.Richy Rich, you are wrong. Ethan later violated his probation by running off into Mexico with his mother. Now, these parents have done nothing to discipline their child, (the court didn’t really help either) who killed four innocent people. He took the life of a youth pastor, the life of a fathers’ little girl, took the mans’ wife as well. He had injured two of his own friends’, the accident leaving one paralyzed and unable to speak. His blood alcohol content was 0.24%, he caused so much damage, both property and emotionally. His parents did nothing, they helped him get out of the sticky predicament, that caused so much heart ache. His parents should be held accountable for his crimes, for not raising him properly and endangering the public with poor

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In their paper,Prosecuting Juveniles in Adult Court, Malcolm C. Young and Jenni Gainsborough say that children put in prison are less likely to make it out of prison by the time they are suppose to be released. The two show that children put in prison are, “7.7 times more likely to commit suicide, 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted, twice as likely to be beaten by staff, 50% more likely to be attacked with a weapon” (6). This means that some parents may…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    I have chosen this topic because it holds the future of our children and the future of our country within its laws and courtrooms. By treating our children as adults for crimes they commit, are we holding them accountable or are we creating “super-predator” out of our troubled youth? Not only are we creating our future criminals but we are arming them with experience and an education that far exceeds that of a classroom or book. The end result will be a future of violence that will only escalate and end with more deaths, heinous crimes, and an increase in mental health issues, drug and alcohol addiction and eventually the deterioration of our society. Parents, policy makers, mental health professionals and the judicial system should work together as team to battle this crucial issue.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    If one is old enough to do the crime, are they truly old enough to do the time? If so, does that time include being placed within a facility originally designated for those at a different age and mental capacity? There are countless disputes and problems regarding the justice system and its decisions. Among those decisions is the decision to sentence a juvenile as an adult and place them within a adult prison, rather than in a juvenile detention center. Just as in most things in life, the justice system is not black and white. Some agree with juvenile incarceration and others reckon children should be treated true to their age and as what they are, children. These academic journals, articles and opinion pieces attempt to make some sense of…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The only effective way to reduce and prevent juvenile crime is to balance tough enforcement measures with targeted, effective and intervention initiatives.” Juveniles are children and children don’t know any better and obviously make mistakes. They don’t expect to be caught after committing a serious crime. Juveniles brains are not fully developed until they are 25, but young people recognize them as adults at the age of 18. About 25,000 children a year have their cases sent to adult courts instead of being tried in juvenile courts, whose convicted defendants are usually set free by the time they turn 21. Trying juveniles as adults is not beneficial for them. But it also is a crime. And crimes are crimes whether…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ¨Children who commit serious crimes still have the ability to change their lives for the better. It is now time for state and federal officials to take positive steps by enacting policies that seek to redeem children, instead of throwing them in prison for the rest of their lives.” This is a quote from David Berger, who is a Deputy District Attorney for the County of Los Angeles, California. He believes that juveniles should not be charged as adults, even if the crime they committed is considered a ´tragedy´ and is thought to be ´horrid´. But we should not try juveniles as adults for many reasons.…

    • 886 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kids who commit serious crimes should not go scot-free. If society doesn't recognize them as adults until the age of 18, why do kids suddenly become responsible as an adult when they commit a crime? Children have as much business in a prison as they do a bar. Yet, twenty-three states have no minimum age. Two, Kansas and Vermont, can try 10 year old kids as adults.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the United States, anyone who is charged for committing a crime before the day of their 18th birthday is considered a juvenile and depending on the severity of the case shall be tried as a juvenile. There are some cases; however, where the juvenile justice system should be harder on the juvenile, but in most cases they should not go to an adult prison. There are most certainly some cases in which the juvenile should face the adult justice system, but for petty instances, a juvenile court will suffice. I find it hard to agree that a juvenile convicted for crimes dealing with drugs, alcohol, traffic violations, etc. should be tried in an adult court to receive punishment; however, I do believe that someone who commits rape, murder, kidnapping, or any other major crimes of the sort should be taken to an adult court. “Old enough to do the crime, old enough to do the time,” is a quote I remember hearing as I was growing up, but I was not taught that it applied to small or minor crimes, but often serious ones involving the harming of another individual. Placing juveniles in adult prisons can cause them to be put in danger, when in reality many of them can be “fixed”…

    • 1464 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A movement has taken hold of our country to change the juvenile justice system, and erase any distinction between young offenders and adult criminals. Almost all fifty states have changed their juvenile justice laws, allowing more youths to be tried as adults and scrapping long-time efforts to help rehabilitate delinquent kids and prevent future crimes. It seems to be plain and simple, a minor in this country is defined as a person under the age of eighteen. How then can we single out certain minors and call them adults? Were they considered adults before they carried out an act of violence? No. How then, did a violent act cause them to cross over a line that is defined by age? The current debate over juvenile crime is being dominated by two voices: elected officials proposing quick-fix solutions, and a media more intent on reporting violent crimes than successful prevention efforts. Minors should not be tried as adults in our society today. This is obvious through looking at propositions by our government such as Proposition 21, which is statistics on juvenile crime from specific cases where minors were sentenced in adult courts.…

    • 1427 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    A child is going to act like a child. They are immature and irresponsible, but when this comes to the point where they are being sentenced to life and placed in adult prisons, that is a punishment so horrific for even any crime. Juveniles who are placed in prison have no hope of having a normal life when they finish their sentence. Most would even be lucky to make it out alive. Even some of them will make their best efforts to protect themselves from the other inmates. Only because, “The fear of being victimized or assaulted produces a need for security, which leads many young prisoners to rely on gangs and weapons for survival. Young prisoners overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness and hopelessness cannot focus on changing their thinking and behavior, because they are focused on how to survive” (Prison is too violent for young offenders 2012). Placing the child in survival mode is not going to improve the behavior or the environment. As more children enter these prisons, older inmates tell them that what they are doing is right and that they must have done a good job. A juvenile shouldn't be around other people that will put more violent thoughts into their mind and make them want to commit another crime once they finish up their sentence. So all the court systems are really doing is adding more violent behavior to the…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poverty in America is a form of murder to the weakest and most innocent of our society. Struggling parents are more apt to take their frustrations out on their children when they are faced with the stress of mounting bills, inadequate housing, or lack of stable and supportive employment. In the last 10 years here in America, there have been well over 20,000 children who have been murdered as a direct result of living in an impoverished home. The totals are devastating when compared to the fact that fewer soldiers have died in the entire span of the war in Afghanistan. More than 75% of these children are under the age of four. Over half of them are under the age of one. (Ref: Childhelp.org)…

    • 1556 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inner city poverty has significant effects on a child's development; however, their are ways to build resilience. As of this rapid developing problem, multiple residences in the inner city locations are getting swallowed by the debt taker. Moreover; it is not only the parents that are in deep trouble! The kids are just as exposed as the parents and resistance is getting tougher and tougher.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poverty in America can be one of the leading causes of obesity. The people who are not in poverty are the ones that can afford to eat healthy for themselves and for the environment. Not only do people who are dealing in poverty can be obese, but they are more likely to be because they have more risk factors than others. There are a number of studies that have found positive associations between food insecurity and obesity. The FRAC (Food Research and Action Center) stated that, “In a 12- state study of 66,553 adults, those who were food insecure had 32 percent greater odds of being obese compared with those who were food secure. Obesity was significantly associated with food insecurity among the following five population sub-groups: women…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As a criminal justice professional there are many key roles involved in social issues we have in society today. For instance, according to the American Scoiety of Criminology they believe it startws in our society at homeduring deliquiency. For example, because these kids don’t have the basic needs to survive such as; shelter,food,healthcare, and guidance to become better adults they are destin for failure. Also, if the childrens parents are criminals they child id more likely to become one as well. In this matter I have to disagree,sometimes instances like this may be true, but on the other hand the parents want their children to stirve to be better and want better. Some parents teach their kids to steal, lie and manipulate through life and…

    • 152 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    My views on the world have changed drastically since taking the sociology class. Now when I see certain people walking down the street I wonder what social class or group these people belong to. I also find myself thinking of the backgrounds of these different people, whether or not they are from the north or the south, rich or poor, strict upbringing or lax upbringing. I find I have fewer pre-thought ideas of how certain people should act and how I was wrong for thinking this way. I also think of how technology and science have changed my views. I now see people are less personable than I sure they were in the past. The invention of the cell phone and the internet have cause people to spend less time face to face and more time text or typing to each other on the…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Parents who take blame for their child’s offences often find themselves with even a bigger problem than what they had in the first place. Towns and cities across the nation have enacted ordinances in response to growing concern of juvenile crime. In thirty-three states, local judges can require parents to pay bale for crimes committed by their children. City councils have designed late-night curfew, truancy, graffiti, gang enforcement, and gun ordinances that impose penalties and possible arrest for parents whose children repeatedly violate the ordinances' behavior standards. The children did not understand the term “consequences to their actions” unless they were punished in private by their parents. The strategy didn’t resolve the growing issue of youth criminal activity. (Strategy: Holding Parents Accountable for Their Children's Behavior).…

    • 510 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays