[*BCM*] Motorist gets slap on the wrist for killing a cyclist

[michaela]

i never send things to this mailing list, but i do ride cm, and i feel
compelled to say this:
teenagers can certainly be responsible for their own actions, and be trusted
not to kill people because they are doing something thoughtless and stupid.
i both was a teenager about 5 years ago, and work with teenagers now, and
the majority of them (just like only the majority of adults) are responsible
enough to be trusted driving a car.

i doubt very much that this girl's myspace account is a reflection of the
remorse she feels, she may be repressing it or trying not to think about it,
or there may be any number of explanations for it.

more importantly, the "justice" system in our country is not just horrible
because it gives people the wrong kind of sentences, and disproportionally
hurts people of color and the working class. it is also horrible because it
does nothing whatsoever to attempt to rehabilitate people, just basically
gives us a place to keep them away from us (temporarily, and most people
come out in worse shape than they were in going in), and a way for
corporations to make money. i feel fairly confident in saying that there are
better ways to deal with a 19 year old girl who accidentally, although
stupidly, killed someone, than to put them in jail, which is likely what
would have happened had they charged her with a worse offense and actually
won the case.

yes, she should have to take more responsibility for her driving, and yes,
she should, and probably does, feel a huge amount of remorse for her
actions. but i don't understand this country's fascination with revenge and
getting back at people. people who commit crimes, either intentionally or
accidentally, need to be helped, not demonized. i'm not a fan of
jesus-loving 19 year olds who kill cyclists, but they, too, need help, not
to have their lives basically completely ruined by entering into a cyclical,
and positively cruel, judicial system.

it is frustrating that the system favors cars so enormously over cyclists.
it is extremely frustrating. but i don't think the right solution is to
demonize individuals, especially when we don't know them or exactly what
they are going through.
it is the system that is at fault, and it is the entire judicial system, not
just the written law.



On 12/1/06, Robotica <androidqueen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> the fuck?
>
> no.  i'm not far out of my teens, and i learned to take responsibility
> for my actions long before i left them.  teenagers are fully capable
> of seeing that the outside world exists.
>
> -m
>
> On 12/1/06, turtle <turtle at zworg.com> wrote:
> > She's a teenager, she has little to no sense of her place in the world.
> > Teenagers, for the most part, just don't have the brain development to
> > be capable of seeing the world through anything but their own eyes, and
> > haven't yet learned to see beyond their limited life of raging hormones
> > and the need to figure out what the heck they are supposed to do to be
> > popular in their friend's eyes.  That's why they send teenagers off to
> > war, because they will do pretty much anything to feel important, and
> > can't think very much.
> >
> > I don't mean to say that teenagers are bad or anything, because it's
> > just a part of growing up, just like the terrible twos.  We all have to
> > go through it sometime before we can make it into a mature mindset,
> > where we honestly care about other people.  To expect teens to behave
> > maturely is just delusional.  But we give them drivers' licenses and
> > cars and guns nonetheless.  What does that say about us?
> >
> > Peace, Love, and Bicycles,
> > -Turtle
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------
> > A human being is a part of the whole, called by us 'universe,' a part
> > limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
> > feelings, as something separate from the rest -- a kind of optical
> > delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for
> > us, restricting us to our personal decisions and to affection fo a few
> > persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this
> > prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living
> > creatures and the whole nature in its beauty."
> >
> > ~Albert Einstein
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
>
> --
> ninjaneer.  geomancer.  licensed scientician.
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-- 
"Is cognac waning Papa? The C's hump is to the east!"
"Waxing and waning have nothing to do with that: it's a sign the Spaak
company has put up there."
"What company put up the moon then?"
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