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| Not Enough Punishment |
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| Too Much Punishment |
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| Just Right !!! |
So, I'm a biker and I can't tell you the number of times I have nearly been clipped by idiots on cell phones or texting, even though the law in most states forbids hand held cell phone use for any reason. I even had one guy drift from the right lane into the left where I was passing ... this moron had the cell phone cradled in the right hand crook of his neck while looking at something (presumably a computer screen) on his passenger seat. When I honked the horn, he was shocked and threw me the finger. Imagine that? And they wonder where road rage comes from.
Anyway, along comes this poor, innocent girl with her whole life ahead of her who can't remember what happened and I am sure had no idea that texting while driving is dangerous. In short, this really wasn't her fault. On top of that, the person who died was just an old lady, so why should we ruin this lovely young lady's life. Riiiiight ... right, right, right.
Look at the havoc this young fool wrought:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2744576/Woman-20-hit-killed-89-year-old-great-grandmother-distracted-looking-Facebook-phone-driving.html
In North Dakota, here are the terms of and fines for negligent homicide:
Class C - Up to five years' imprisonment and up to $5,000 in fines.
- Perjury
- Intentional tampering with or damaging of a public service
- Negligent homicide
- Human cloning
I'm sorry, but that's just not an adequate punishment for murder (unintentional though it may be), especially since this person will likely get off with wrist slap at best and early parole at worst. It just isn't right (or even morally appropriate) to structure a legal system that doles out the same jail term for lying to a judge as it does for murder (of any degree). Yeah, I know ... let's parse words by defining homicide vs murder, but I can assure you that if this was your grandma who died, you'd be screaming for the death penalty. Also, we can wring our hands about not ruining another life, especially a young one, but actions should have meaningful consequences, regardless of your age.
So, the point of this article is that while I don't really have a clue what an adequate sentence might be, other than it should at least be significantly harsher than 5 years, we need to get tougher as a society. Why? Because weak sentences only encourage the continuance of bad behavior and if that bad behavior harms anyone other than the person guilty of it, that person should pay a stiff price so we can discourage others from doing things that are dangerous to others.
How many times do we need to tell these twits that texting and driving don't mix? How many more innocent people need to die before our society gets the point?
