Skip to main content

Deport Justin Bieber!

Justin Bieber was arrested this morning for DUI and speeding.

I'm really curious to see how this all plays out.  I wonder if his legal team will help him weasel into some posh rehab joint?  Maybe he'll end up in one of those fancy celebrity hang-outs, where other fallen teen stars go to hang out, talk about how difficult it is to be famous, and work on their tans.

Deport him back to Canada!
I'm frankly sick and tired of watching the criminal justice system take it easy on celebrities and other wealthy DUI offenders.  Drunk driving is a horrible crime!  Let's put it in context.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 33,687 people were killed in automobile accidents in 2010.  They have other reports suggesting that between 40-50% of these deaths are alcohol related.  This means that about 16,000 people were killed in alcohol related crashes.  In the same year, there were 11,078 firearm homicides.

And car accidents are also costly.  The same studies estimate that the lifetime costs of deaths and injuries among drivers and passengers were $70 billion in 2005.  
It's a real shame that people who have money and resources can skirt the consequences for such dangerous behavior.  I'm sure many of you remember the recent case of a wealthy teen who killed 4 people in a drunken driving accident.  His attorney and psych team argued that he had a bad case of "affluenza" and didn't understand the repercussions of his reckless behavior.  Really?!

Ultimately, I believe in the chance for rehabilitation and think everyone should have the opportunity to atone for their wrongs.  But, I think it's a real joke how our criminal justice system treats celebrities and others who get DUIs.  Maybe I'm old school about this, but I think the penalties should be much harsher for DUI offenders.  They should be akin to those for discharging a firearm in a public place.  If anything, DUI is similar to--if not potentially more dangerous--than firearm related injuries.

How do you all feel about Bieber?  I think he should get deported back to Canada!

Comments

  1. Jooyoung LeeJanuary 29, 2014 at 1:05 PM

    I guess people are taking this seriously!
    http://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/petition-puts-justin-bieber-obama-39-basket-173904761.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 18, 2014 at 3:00 PM

    Beiber is a real danger to people. However, as for why he is acting like this, I would say that it is a cause of the backlash of his image when he was younger. I remember with my friends questioning the manliness of Beiber. Today, it is more about the reckless and dangerous actions that he commits. These reckless and dangerous actions are like his way to express his masculinity which is action assertive and savage- which is not a quality that is related to being feminine. Nevertheless, I would not want him in Canada. I have enough news to read when our honourable mayor acts up.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Long Shadow of Gun Violence (In Loving Memory of Bette Clark)

I met Bette and her oldest son, Joey, during a death penalty trial in Center City.  It was the sentencing phase for the two men who killed her youngest son, Timmy, who was gunned down execution-style when he was 15. Caroline, an advocate with the Families of Murder Victims, introduced us.  "Bette, this is Jooyoung.  He's a researcher and wants to interview you."  Joey sized me up and seemed protective of his mom, who had already been through so much.  Her eyes were red from crying, so I said, "I'm really sorry to hear about what happened." She smiled a little and said in her Tacony accent, "Thank you. It's been such a long day.  But, call me whenever, sure." I spent the next day with Bette and her family at the courthouse and visited them weekly over the next year.  I hadn't planned on following the families of murder victims, but my ongoing research in Philly had pushed me in this direction.   While getting to know gunshot...
8 comments
Read more

The Existential Fall Out after Newtown

The Existential Fall Out after Newtown I have a heavy heart tonight.  My thoughts and prayers are with the families of Newtown.  The Newtown shooting is a terrible tragedy. It has reminded me of lessons learned while studying the families of murder victims.  For the past 2 years, I have been researching the everyday lives of families who lose someone in a murder.  This has been difficult—and often heartbreaking—research.  I have spent many nights thinking about how much I take my family, friends, and other people in my life for granted.   I think about the mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings whose first and last thoughts of each day are of the person they loved and lost. The things that I have seen and the stories that I have collected have left a deep and permanent mark on my soul. Amongst the many thoughts swirling around in my head, I keep returning to a t...
8 comments
Read more

Bath Salts and Ultra Violence?

During the past couple weeks, I've come across shocking stories of people who become ultra violent after ingesting hallucinogens.  These stories are a sharp contrast to the likes of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.  The two stories are something closer to scenes from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. For example, the Internet is filled with stories of Rudy Eugene, a man who was discovered eating another man's face in Miami.  Reports are linking his ultra-violent behavior to "bath salts," a mostly legal synthetic compound that is said to produce a wide array of intense hallucinogenic results in users after ingestion. After being summoned by a fellow motorist, police officers shot and killed Eugene who allegedly growled at officers and continued chewing on the victim's facial flesh until he was shot and killed.  In the media frenzy, Eugene is being called everything from a crazed "zombie" to a cannibal on the Internet. Ronald Poppo (victim) and Rudy Eugene...
5 comments
Read more