Luke I Amyofath

Too bad she wasn't in Australia or the UK
Sentenced to 27 months for allowing a party at her house for her 16 year old.
She thought it best to allow the party rather than let the kids party elsewhere. She consfiscated all the car keys yet over 30 cops with dogs chasing kids through the woods brought the party to a halt, arresting the mother.

http://www.startribune.com/484/story/1236311.html

Now while allowing 16 year olds to have booze is wrong, what the bloody hell is wrong with yankies ?

They easily and willingly vote for a president that has smoked pot (but he didn't inhale remember), then send a mother to jail for 2 1/4 years for doing what she thought was the safest thing to do.

Rove Macmanus move over mate, this is a big fat WHAT THE.......

framac

Right wing zealots or politically motivated? Whatever, its a wee bit harsh. All parents in my street would have been jailed

yanH

This is also the country with one of the highest gun related murder rates in the world. You'd think that the cops would have something better to do. I think that the cops breathalysed the kids afterwards and many of them had a zero return and all of them were under the drink drive limit. Its hardly sounds like a wild binge.

Land of the Free

Vash the Stampede

She knowingly supplied alcohol to underaged teenagers, and lied about it to their parents. Hardly a case of "doing what she thought was the safest thing to do".

Luke I Amyofath

The punishment fits the crime then does it ?

kiwi_child

No it doesn't. It's manifestly excessive (in legal jargon). A lot of the US states seem to have crazy laws and sentences in effect making them extreme right-wing nanny states. It is far safer to have teens at a parents house where their alcohol intake and behaviour can be supervised. Otherwise they'll go 'street drinking' and put themselves at real risk.

Vash the Stampede

Sure, I don't see why not.

She even got a reduction from 8 years to 27 months. That's a pretty good deal by anyone's standards.

She knew it was illegal; she knew the penalty; she chose to do it anyway. Now she's whinging about it.

How odd.

Luke I Amyofath

Yes, Americans are odd indeed.

Vash the Stampede

...provided that the other parents in question have not been misled and/or lied to (as happened in this case).

Tell me k_c, if this was your child and illegal drugs were involved instead of illegally consumed alcohol - would you still feel the same way?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. I suppose we can surmise that a kid who's stupid enough to drink illegally is also stupid enough to do it in public. Other, more responsible kids (does such a thing still exist?) wouldn't be drinking underage in the first place.

And before anyone says "Oh come on, we ALL did!", I feel compelled to point out that "No, we didn't".

If we've moved beyond the days when kids were capable of enjoying themselves without getting drunk, I might as well buy myself a shotgun and start culling the local chav population before their ill-begotten offspring start spending my tax money on booze.

Nu-Shooz

The amount of parents i know who let there teenagers drink at parties etc, the whole lot of them would be jailed then, including me.
I let my teenager drink when she is with us. Only a couple. But i can tell you now, i know that all her mates and their mates drink most weekends in each others houses, with their parents.

Vanessa

If this was Italy then every parent would be in jail. They serve wine to young kids, albeit watered down. My ex and his family all drunk wine with their evening meal and for teenages it wasn't watered down. None of his family have a problem with alcohol.

As far as I am aware in the UK kids can drink beer, wine or cider with food in a restaurant at 16 as long as it is bought by an adult. Also if my memory serves me right it is only illegal to give alcohol to a child if they are under the age of 5. However, it is a long time since I did this type of law.

I think the punishment is far too severe for the "crime".

moneypenny20

It wasn't Italy and it wasn't Britain. It's illegal in the US for kids under 21 to drink. I have no problem them jailing her but they should also jail all the clubs in LA and Las Vagas that daily serve alcohol to the likes of Lindsay Lohan who is constantly drunk (apparently) and staggering out of clubs and is not yet 21.

If you live in a country, you abide by that country's rules, don't you

Vanessa

No not always.

Geordie George

Depends on how good your lawyer is.

moneypenny20

Just read my post back again. It came across far more sanctimonious than I meant it to I don't think she deserved that length of time but it pisses me off when people get totally different sentences for much the same "crimes".