Second Chances?

Recently, a friend of friends (someone I never met) was killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. This mostly-preventable tragedy got me thinking, and I realized I have never articulated my position on some things.

See, the driver that caused this accident had gone down for four – 4- DUIs. Four times this person had been caught and put through the system for driving under the influence of a mind-altering substance. And that’s only the times they had been caught. Who knows how often they drove while intoxicated and were not caught?

Lest I seem completely hypocritical, I’ll admit that when I was young, I drove under the influence once. With a car full of people during a rain storm, I almost plowed into a building. It scared the fuck out of me. That was the first and last time I drove when I was the one drinking.

I learned my lesson and I was lucky in that I learned it without harming or killing anyone. Some people have to have a tragedy occur to learn that, and some people never learn that lesson, regardless of what happens.

Four DUIs.

The system processed this danger-to-their-fellow humans four times and still let them back out on the roads.

I’m a big, big believer in second chances, so I’ll say that’s three DUIs too many. After the first one, they should have lost their license for an appropriate amount of time (6 months with no injuries to others, 1-2 years at least with injuries, and 5+ years with a fatality in addition to any jail time for vehicular manslaughter).

There are quite a few severe crimes for which I still believe offenders should get a second chance in life. Most of them would likely cause quite a few readers to call me “soft on crime” or a “bleeding heart liberal” or some such. And maybe I am. But I accept that everyone fucks up sometime or makes a really bad decision, and sometimes that decision has tragic consequences.

But I also believe that most of those people can learn and change. Now, it’s widely held that external forces cannot make you change, that you have to want to change. And that’s true. But external forces can help apply the necessary pressure to force you to truly contemplate that change. That’s part of what the justice system is supposed to do.

Four DUIs.

Four times, the system caught this person, but it didn’t apply to appropriate pressure, and the offender continued to offend, resulting in a death, one that left young children without a mother.

And that never should have happened, because after the second DUI, that person demonstrated that they simply could not be trusted with a multi-ton high velocity death machine.

If there’s any justice, the offender will be charged with straight up First Degree Murder. Because getting into a car while drunk, for at least the fourth time, demonstrates (I believe the term is) mens rea. Normally, being intoxicated would discount that to some degree, but after four times, that person knew they were going to get drunk and that they were then going to drive and that’s no different than deciding that your neighbor has finally pissed you off one too many times, so you’re going to grab your 9mm and go put them down.

In this case, and so many like it, the system failed everyone involved in and affected by this tragedy. While the driver should face the maximum that the system can impose for a deliberate murder, the system itself should face scrutiny and whatever repercussions are available. Because four times, the system said “Nah, brah, it’s all good, go on with your bad self”.

This tragedy, and so many like it, have at least two perpetrators; the gun, and the hand waving the gun about all willy-nilly.

What has been done here and in so many other places cannot be undone. But you can contact your lawmakers (phone call, email, letter, semaphore, whatever) and harangue them to do something about fixing the system that allows too many third, fourth, fifth chances.

And if you’ve got a few extra bucks to spare, you can also look around on GoFundMe and the like and help out some people who have been damaged by their fellow humans and the system.

If you’re gonna drink, smoke, pop, shoot or otherwise ingest, hide your damn car keys or give them to someone responsible. Don’t become someone who needs a second chance.