Cj Article Review

CJ 246 |

Week 10: Article Review |

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Doug Furness |

4/4/2013 |

In this article an ex detective Kevin C. Spellman, which once hunted down fugitives is now behind bars for DWI and for killing a 66 year old lady in the crash. Spellman who is 45 years old was sentenced to 2nd degree manslaughter, and will be serving 3-9 years in prison. The reasoning for a little lesser sentence was thought to be because of his good record of public service. The fact he stayed at the scene of the crash, and didn’t file an appeal because he knew what he did was wrong. The family of the victim thought the punishment was not fair, and that just because he was in law enforcement he shouldn’t deserve a lesser sentence.

It is thought that drunk drivers have a long history of doing this and many prior arrests. In addition, most of those killed are just innocent victims whose behavior did not contribute to their deaths. These last two statements are both false. On average a drunk driver that kills has never been involved in an alcohol related accident before and has no prior convictions for drunk driving. The part about the people killed are just innocent bystanders is unexaggerated also. Most of the drunk drivers victims are the drivers themselves, their often passengers, and the drunken pedestrians and cyclists. Despite this drunk driving is still very dangerous. It is the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths in America today. In fact it is said that about 40 % of the population will be involved in an alcohol related crash during their life. Drunk driving is especially dangerous to young people, who seem to be more involved than others. Drunk driving is the number one cause of death among young people, accounting for 20% of all deaths from ages 15 to 20. Drunk driving is such a hard thing to overcome though. In our society alcohol is overwhelmingly accepted as a facilitator of sociable interaction, and the great majority of adults drink. But steps are being taken and...