Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "LIFE in Prison for 'Unlucky' Drunk Driver in TX" video.

Or, more likely, we don't put any actual effort into reforming them, we then turn them loose without any job prospects and probably no friends or family and are then surprised by a lack of positive change. Why would anybody change when their life is that screwed, and that's regardless of what you think about what led to them being incarcerated.
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Also, keep in mind that what a jury gets to do is pretty limited. It is crucial, but they pretty much just get to weigh the facts and the arguments provided, and then look at the law that the judge provides and decide which, if any, laws were broken and what the sentence for that should be. Juries definitely can go rogue for one reason or another, but counting on that when the evidence justified this outcome is asking for trouble.
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In a sense he was unlucky, I'm guessing that he drove drunk far more than just 9 times and even on that 9th offense, if he had taken a different route home, he might not have been caught. But, it's extremely selfish to focus on that rather than the fact that this person apparently did drive drunk and there's so much evidence that it's not even in dispute that he was over the line and crashed into that car with his car. And, his testimony probably did make it easier for them to decide that life was appropriate rather than a shorter term as nobody was killed int he crash and apparently the family is going to be OK.
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@P_RO_ As a recovered alcoholic, I can assure you that what they were offered was completely useless if the individual is in their 50s. Even now, most programs are absolute garbage. There's little to no scientific evidence backing most treatment programs up, and chucking people in prison where they lose any positive influences they might have had isn't going to help. You can choose to believe or not, but I'm 20 years sober, so I think I know a thing or two about what it takes to beat alcoholism. Sure, I operate under the assumption that if I do take a drink, that I'll have to start the process over, but that's a small price to pay.
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@mdeadinbed And, precisely how many more deaths are you willing to accept responsibility for in order to be right? I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror if being right was more important than saving lives on the road. But, that's just me.
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@mdeadinbed Yes, but drug abuse is not a choice, it is a medical problem that requires treatment. To throw people in prison, without real and effective treatment, and expect that there will be any change is just plain ignorant. I got clean off drugs, I got incredibly sick doing so, and I've had regular periods where it's all I've been able to handle to keep from crawling into a bottle. Putting this down to a choice in a country where you oftentimes don't get a choice in terms of whether or not to drive, is neither accurate nor helpful. Alcoholics and drug addicts exist. Some portion will get behind the wheel, the question is whether we care to do the right thing and get them clean so they don't re-offend, or just accept the cost of not doing so.
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