Three Words: LOCK THEM UP
Another man is dead due to moronic street racers. This will not end until these punks start doing serious time.
Take notice judges... house arrest won't do this time, so don't even think about it.
Take notice judges... house arrest won't do this time, so don't even think about it.
posted by Christian Conservative @ 1:24 p.m.
10 Comments:
At Tue Jun 19, 02:02:00 p.m. EDT,
Jeff said…
i agree with you. what a shame that canada's new govt has decided to endorse a sport that perpetuates the whole "need for speed" culture.
At Tue Jun 19, 03:02:00 p.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
Just slap a big CPC logo on the side of the car and get Bourque to drive it around. That should solve everything, right?
At Tue Jun 19, 03:42:00 p.m. EDT,
Brian VandenBerg said…
That's pretty shallow Jeff.
I suppose we shouldn't sponser bicycle races, soap box derbies or even unicycle races either, that would be endorsing a culture of wreckless speed where someone could get hurt. Yes, 'Everything is Harpers fault'. You are so lame.
...and your memory is so short.
At Tue Jun 19, 06:53:00 p.m. EDT,
Dirk said…
Jail time is a lousy deterrent and a poor punishment.
I'm not sure what's done now, but impoundment of the vehicles being used, and permanent revocation of their driver's license sound appropriate in addition to a lengthy house arrest.
Jail isn't the answer here.
At Tue Jun 19, 07:52:00 p.m. EDT,
Luke Coughey said…
I agree with Dirk in that jail time ends up costing the tax payer a lot of money. Perhaps the penalty could be the loss of the vehicle, license (for a few years for a first time offense...eternal for a second offense) and a lot of community service.
At Tue Jun 19, 09:04:00 p.m. EDT,
Christian Conservative said…
If the incident didn't involve yet another death of an innocent man, I'd be inclined to agree... however, since this idiocy has once again resulted in death, the strongest possible message has to be sent to those who engage in such activities... if you kill someone while street racing, you're going to go to jail for sure.
Also, from the news reports today, it appears that these kids have been problems for years, not listening to their parents who tried to straighten them out. This was not an "accident", but the result of years of heading down this path.
Could you perhaps call that premeditaion?
At Tue Jun 19, 11:02:00 p.m. EDT,
Dirk said…
CC: I can see where you're coming from -- someone's life has ended because of a couple idiot kids who were engaging in high-risk behaviours. I agree that a message needs to be sent that street racing is deadly serious and has serious consequences.
But I don't think jail is the answer. Which raises the question: what should we do as a society when stuff like this happens? I think there are many angles:
- punishment: unacceptable behaviours need consequences
- deterrence: see above
- preventing repeat offences: this, in my view, is the most important of them all
The easy answer to all these is jail. But, as Luke mentioned, jail is expensive. It's also ineffective as a deterrent -- increased sentences in a variety of jurisdictions have had no positive impact on crime rates. Jail is hopeless at ensuring that offenders stay on the straight and narrow once released. Sure, you can lock offenders up for lengthy stays, but when they get out, they're typically a greater threat to society than when they came in -- people don't get better in jail... at least not normally.
I'm not saying there isn't a place in society for jail. There most certainly is. I'm saying jail isn't the be-all and end-all. In a lot of cases, non-jail alternatives make a lot more sense.
Take street racing, or drunk driving, for instance. Both are leading causes of vehicular manslaughter. In either case, let's say some kid made an incredibly stupid error in judgement, and his actions led to someone's death.
What would you rather see:
- a 10 year jail sentence, where an otherwise decent kid gets thrown into an institution with hardened, convicted criminals?
- or a 10 year house arrest/parole, with a criminal record, loss of vehicle, and a permanent loss of licence?
In the former case, you're looking at a strong likelihood that this kid is going to end up messed up and will likely incur a high cost to society, over and above what it cost to keep this kid in jail.
In the latter case, this kid has lifelong consequences of having killed someone, but is able to eventually lead somewhat of a productive life, and is much more likely to contribute something positive to society.
At Tue Jun 19, 11:06:00 p.m. EDT,
Dirk said…
One final thought after what turned into a long post:
What this boils down to for me is this: after messing up, people need an opportunity to redeem themselves. Jail time gets in the way of redemption.
At Wed Jun 20, 09:23:00 a.m. EDT,
Brian VandenBerg said…
Possible repercussions:
1. First time offence, vehicle is confiscated dismantled and auctioned off, with proceeds going to victim’s charities.
2. The next time the individual purchases a vehicle, it a governor must be installed to limit the maximum speed of the vehicle. When I was driving trucks, they had them installed so it couldn't go over 110 km/h. If the person removes the governor, the vehicle is confiscated again and the person is heavily fined; license lost for life.
3. Allow the perpetrator to be sued in civil court for wrongful death. They won't be able to afford to build another racer and kill someone else.
There are flaws in these proposals (I admit), however it might be a start.
At Wed Jun 20, 05:25:00 p.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
eternal for a second offense
Awwww....I can't drive in heaven either?
Moron.
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