Early this week the verdict came in for 16-year old Ethan Couch. This kid was driving, drunk with seven of his friends. I mean come on, he’s already severely breaking the law. Then he crashed his car and killed four people. Plus, this resulted in four of his passengers being thrown from the car, two were critically injured and one remains paralyzed.
According to the judge in Texas this is all understandable, since Ethan suffers from affluenza…….
Photo via ABCNews
Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. Ethan is only getting 10 years probation because he’s wealthy. In other words, he’s too rich to understand his actions have consequences. Uhhhhh WTF???
[Psychologist Dr. G. Dick ] Miller said Couch’s parents gave him “freedoms no young person should have.” He called Couch a product of “affluenza,” where his family felt that wealth bought privilege and there was no rational link between behavior and consequences.
He said Couch got whatever he wanted. As an example, Miller said Couch’s parents gave no punishment after police ticketed the then-15-year-old when he was found in a parked pickup with a passed-out and undressed 14-year-old girl.
Miller also pointed out that Couch was allowed to drive at age 13. He said the teen was emotionally flat and needed years of therapy.
I don’t even know where to begin with this affluenza bs.
Between everything the kid just gets a ticket and some therapy. What I want to know is where are the parents in all this? Obviously the kid should have some consequences but it looks like the parents are getting off easy too. He is just a minor, isn’t he their responsibility?
Sounds like they just paid the courts off to get their son off the hook. Could you imagine if this was anyone else? There would be an uproar over every single detail of this case. Anyone else would go to jail for manslaughter.
So pretty much, the court says Ethan Couch doesn’t know his actions have consequences, so his consequences are…….10 years probation. Not much of a consequence for drunk driving and killing 4 people.
If this is real life, I don’t even know how I feel anymore.
The post What in the Hell is Affluenza? appeared first on Live a Sweet Life.
