With justice and prejudice for jocks...

[Dark Dragonite]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14378978/

Basically, an idiot 16yo high school quarterback, and his 17yo teamate decided to steal someone's decoy deer, make a stand for it(it only had 2 legs), and place it in the middle of the road, and drive up and down, laughing at people trying to avoid it. Well, a young kid swerved into a pole and broke his neck, collarbone, arm and leg. His passenger, Dustin Zachariah, suffered brain damage. The two young victims will never be the same, have their normal lives.
So what does this judge do? say they can finish the footbal season, due to "seeing positive things about participating in football."
Then?
They get 60 days in jujuvenile detention center. They were also ordered to write a 500-word essay titled “Why I Should Think Before I Act.”

I think the judge should also be writing this essay...
If it wasn't a big major accident, fine, but lives were ruined, both kids may never be able to do normal everyday things again...
Jock favoritism?

EDIT: damn typos

[Arnen]

Oh my god, 60 days. That'll REALLY set them straight, I'm sure. -.- And how is continuing to play a sport where you run around beating the shit out of people for a ball going to help these assholes learn their lesson?

[Dark-San]

[b][size=3]Is the judge mad or what? Two lives ruin by two crooks and what they got was some confinement in a juvenile detention centre and writing of a 500 words essay? This is way too lenient for both idiots who had act without thinking. How are the victim's family going to take this judgement? I suggest the judge to retract her judgement and pass a new one to put those idiots behind bars.

[Blademaster]

...

I am speechless. I really am. In this country, where a homeless man can be sent to jail for 40 years for stealing toilet paper, two teens can cause brain damage and paralysis and get off with 2 months in juvie...

[Razola]

This poll is as retarded as the thread creator.

[Dark Dragonite]

I may have agreed with you on a separate topic, but the poll was meant to be a joke, obviously, becomming a mod has not altered your sense of humor, or tendency to be flame...you must also be in the 36% that think Bush has done a great job...

[Blademaster]

Actually, it's down to like 28% now...

[Razola]

I may have agreed with you on a separate topic, but the poll was meant to be a joke, obviously, becomming a mod has not altered your sense of humor, or tendency to be flame...you must also be in the 36% that think Bush has done a great job...

Assumptions make what of people?

[Master Rudy]

This is not right at all. I'd like to see those guys run into a pole at 50 MPH.....

[Dark Dragonite]

Assumptions make what of people?

Hey, I know I'm an ass...

"makes an ass of you and me" I learned that in elementary school

[Magmar]

Read "Our Guys" by Lefkowicz (?). A whole book about jock favoritism in a community where

*mature coming up*









a football team raped a retarded girl in the worst way and got off scot free.

[Jeff]

This poll is as retarded as the thread creator.

I just love how some people in this country take every chance they get to take cheap shots at the current administration, and they're the ones that say this country is messed up .

But anyway, yeah that's off topic. Now what I think of this is: these guys are just dumb kids, they didn't kill anyone, so why is this a big deal? They are getting two months and have to write a 500-word essay. Seriously, to a football player that would be like a 500,000-word essay! OK, so DD isn't the only one taking cheap shots here...

[Razola]

At my High School the marching band got more respect than the football team.

[Dark Dragonite]

So having one young kid, probably around the same age break his neck, and other bones, probably leaving him a parapalegic, and another kid brain damaged...to be honest, I'd rather be dead than in either situation...the current administration and religious extremists won't allow any further development of stem cell research, which could potentially cure these ailments...

Side tracking for a brief...Let's be honest...people have abortions, a fetus dies, and is basically thrown out...why not use those stem cells for a chance to do good...cure illnesses like MS and the likes?

Also...it's been proven that animal stem cells, such as pigs would work as well...again, some people are against the further development of science and health care...here's a question...do you eat animals, like burgers, pork, etc? I'm willing to bet there aren't too many veggies on this board...I used to be one...well, if you eat them, why would you have a problem with using stem cells? OMG...one less chicken McNugget!!

[Razola]

If you want to rag on the current adminstration, why don't you just make a thread on it?

I can't believe you are derailing your own damn thread.

[mr_pikachu]

If you want to rag on the current adminstration, why don't you just make a thread on it?

I can't believe you are derailing your own damn thread.

I don't often agree with Raz. This is one of those occasions where I do.

I heard about the football team incident. Absolutely outrageous. The Duke lacrosse team thing is also notable (was that ever resolved, or is it still ongoing?).

But unfortunately, we now live in a society where the judicial system has two major flaws:


1. Activist judges decide to make their own rules, overriding black-and-white laws, common sense, and all humanity. The judges who give a few months to serial child rapists are proof enough of that.

2. Anyone who has a degree of power or fame can get whatever they want. I'm not going to debate the examples, but I will a few prominent ones - which, to avoid a tangential argument, I will call "questionable verdicts." O.J... Jacko... Mel Gibson... need I go on?


Hooray for fair trials.

[Master Rudy]

Anyone who has a degree of power or fame can get whatever they want. I'm not going to debate the examples, but I will a few prominent ones - which, to avoid a tangential argument, I will call "questionable verdicts." O.J... Jacko... Mel Gibson... need I go on?

Well I can understand Mel getting off light on the DUI. He didn't kill anyone or go after young boys. That's something that your typical Joe Schmo gets off lightly on depending on the case.

As far as the Duke thing went I think the case got thrown out because the woman had a history of lying and some of the things she said didn't match other accounts of the case. It's been awhile and just quickly sunk away from the news around here. Let me see if I find something about it real quick ^_~

EDIT-Here's some files on Duke
http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/468272.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13392547/site/newsweek/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13249625/site/newsweek/

If you ask me too many of the things with the Duke case don't line up. I can't say either way if they did it but based on those files it's seeming like they didn't do it. If I remember correctly I think I also heard that one of the players accused was video taped by a security camera ATM at the time the rape was suppose to be going on.

[Dark-San]

Now what I think of this is: these guys are just dumb kids, they didn't kill anyone, so why is this a big deal? They are getting two months and have to write a 500-word essay. Seriously, to a football player that would be like a 500,000-word essay!

[b][size=3]Let me put a point to you. Let just pretend that you are victim one. You broke your neck and some portion of your limbs. There are high chances are that you would be paralysed for life. Your simple things like going to the loo and eating, you would required assistance from someone.

Or lets say you are victim two. You knocked your head and got permanent head damage. That knock rupture some portion of your brain's ability feature. You will begin stuttering your speech like every five seconds if that knock ruptures your speech ability. Or you might find it difficult to recognise words and faces of your loved one if that knock affects your memory. In a more serious cases, permanent head damage leads to a loss in sight.

Or any cases that you are one of the victim, would you feel that have justice been done after those two idiots that got you into your state have been led off with a light sentence?

....

...

..

.

Well of course, no one will feel good about this and you will probably as a victim appeal against the sentence. This is because it is your life and you want to get back at those assholes who did it to you.

My second point is that those kids are already at like 16 and 17 years old? Ain't they big enough to think for themselves? In Singapore being at the age of 16 and 17 qualifies you of being an adult. Someone who is of age and has has the ability to take up a M16 rifle legally, serving in the National Service.

I personally don't think justice is serve here unless it is either these kids have a brain that is no bigger than a walnut or the school that they are in are for idiots. There is no better sentence in this case then to put these two kids behind bars for as long as it is under the President's pleasure.

[mr_pikachu]

If you ask me too many of the things with the Duke case don't line up. I can't say either way if they did it but based on those files it's seeming like they didn't do it. If I remember correctly I think I also heard that one of the players accused was video taped by a security camera ATM at the time the rape was suppose to be going on.

True. However, this actually wasn't the point, as far as I can tell. The real problem was that it never appeared to be taken seriously from the start, even before the facts started to clash with the story. You have to take such an allegation seriously, or else there's no point in a legitimate victim going to the police at all.

Yes, it does seem that she was lying. But the local authorities didn't know that when they initially discounted her story! That is the problem.

[-/Deathborn/-]

“I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m going to. I see positive things about participating in football,” Judge Gary McKinley said Tuesday.

Wow. And I thought the fast food industry was corrupted.
Talk about the "God" Syndrome. Some one kill that judge. "Postive" and "Football" repel eachother. It teaches you how to beat up people and how to lose intelligence. Seriously...now I am going to ENJOY the end of the world.

Wait. Its already ended. We're too lazy to figure it out.

[mr_pikachu]

Talk about the "God" Syndrome. Some one kill that judge.

Two words: Judicial activism.

This is the problem with the today's legal system. The rules can be ignored whenever the judge feels like it. Or when the moron's too drunk/stoned/otherwise mentally incapacitated to notice.

[Razola]

You all fail to understand that they are minors and the crime wasn't huge. The consequences were bad, but you don't just change the rules because someone got hurt more. That's was a civil case will be for: the parents of the victims can sue for damages.

This thread is a lot of angry nerds with heavy biases against people who play sports.

[Dark-San]

This thread is a lot of angry nerds with heavy biases against people who play sports.

[b][size=3]*Beep*

Wrong! I'm just thinking that they should answer to what they have done. Full stop.

[mr_pikachu]

Three things.

1. I hold a black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do. I may have some intelligence, but I hardly consider myself a nerd who's biased against athletes.

2. In this case, I believe the crime is larger because of what it caused. This is a textbook case of reckless endangerment. If the victims had died, the "jocks," as they have been called, could be charged with their deaths as homicides (I think manslaughter is the most that could apply - need to check the exact definitions - but that's still a major, major felony). The victims did not die, so manslaughter is out of the question, but lesser felonies certainly are not.

3. The argument that the defendants are exempt because they are minors is absurd, frankly. Anyone above the age of 18 has to be tried as an adult, and exceptions can be made to try those who are not of legal age as adults, too. It depends on the circumstances and is evaluated on a case-by-case basis with a heavy emphasis on the severity of the crime and the impact it caused. I'd say this was a pretty big impact (no pun intended), and as I pointed out in #2, the severity of the crime is also great.

[Razola]

It would only be manslaughter, as the deaths would not have been intentional.

And if they were going to be tried as adults, the opportunity has passed. This means lower sentences and ultimately a clean slate when they hit 18.

If you want a harsher penalty, then the victims' parents can get it via civil court.

[Magmar]

I'd like to think I'm pretty smart for an all-around athlete o_O;

Basketball is my only non-sport out of the big ones.

You can't lie though, this judge definitely would have treated the case differently if these kids weren't involved in things like that.

These kids deserve heavy punishment REGARDLESS of what the crime was, because they just ruined two other kids' lives and THEY KNOW BETTER. Don't ever try to tell me that a 16 or 17 year old doesn't realize that your actions can cause painful consequences.

[-/Deathborn/-]

Its not that some people think people who do sports are not intelligent, but sometimes its people from the:
A)"Rough-House" Sports
A1)Does not include self-defense.
B)Football is part of 'A' which we assosciate with being thrown around and landing hard...
C)Which we associate with brain damage,
D)Which we associate with loss of intelligence, Slightly, but enough to make you think you're invincible(i.e, "I can do whatever I want because I'm not a wimp")
E)Which unfortunetly led to the behavior of these specific two players.
F)In reality outside of the news/media, most football players aren't going to go off and do something like what these two did.

Regardless, they should answer. Do you really think a football team should have two players with a small footnote of causing the lives of two young men to take a turn for the worse? People take advantage of that in more ways than they should. They shouldn't be allowed to play football, period, before their names are revealed and people put one and one together. The general public gravitates torwards negative stories rather than posititive.

[Lady Vulpix]

It's not a matter of age, Rude Boy. Some people are just stupid and can't see the consequences of their actions. Like a guy here whose idea of fun was driving his car as fast as possible and passing everyone else on the road, and he ended up killing a mother and her daughter. Those people are dangerous because they don't know what they're doing until it's too late.

[Girafarig]

I'd like to think I'm pretty smart for an all-around athlete o_O;

Basketball is my only non-sport out of the big ones.

You can't lie though, this judge definitely would have treated the case differently if these kids weren't involved in things like that.

These kids deserve heavy punishment REGARDLESS of what the crime was, because they just ruined two other kids' lives and THEY KNOW BETTER. Don't ever try to tell me that a 16 or 17 year old doesn't realize that your actions can cause painful consequences.

Do you have any, you know, facts to back up that assertion?

Anyway, Razz basically summed it up by saying that we can't just manipulate laws in certain cases.

[Razola]

Basically, we're running off Stereotypes. I knew several football players who were nice guys and while we're discussing stereotypes, one of the cheerleads at my highschool was in the running for Valedictorian.

[Dark Dragonite]

Justice can be ...well...not served...but made to appear slightly...those injured teens can sue the shit out of the idiots...well, given their ages...probably their parents.

Bottom line...the punishment for theft isn't that hefty...I'm not quite sure what causing car accidents would be classified under...criminal mischeif? Obstructing traffic? Public misconduct?
They probably could have charged them with a dozen crimes...which would and should have added up to a few years in juvy...I would say atleast 5 would leave a better taste in my mouth...

The thing is...they meant to do this, cause trouble, steal, and they know someone could get hurt...

[Razola]

As I said, the justice system is very easy on minors, as they want to teach a lesson rather than ruin a life.