Ethan Couch Character Analysis

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16 year old teen Ethan Couch became responsible for the death of four individuals. The night of the accident, Couch along with seven of his friends had stolen beer from a local Walmart and proceeded to get behind the wheel of his father’s company pickup truck. In addition to his blood alcohol level being three times over the adult legal limit, the perpetrator “also had traces of Valium in his system” (Voorhees). Couch committed an array of crimes the night of the accident including underage drinking, reckless driving, and manslaughter, yet the surge of controversy regarding this case stems from both around the defense and verdict, as the judge handed to Couch a rather lenient sentence given the circumstances; Couch was sentenced to rehab and to…show more content…
Couch pleaded guilty to “four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury” (Voorhees). Coming from a wealthy background, he was presented as at a loss for coming from an exceedingly privileged family – a victim of what his legal team referred to as “affluenza”. According to Couch’s attorneys, “his condition stemmed from having wealthy, privileged parents who never set limits for him” (Hayes). Supposedly, this means he is without blame for driving drunk and instigating the car accident, even though “affluenza” is not confirmed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Hayes). It is difficult to be understanding of Couch’s sentence since “Couch’s wealth and privilege may have led him to feel immune from the usual consequences of certain behavior, but somewhere along the way he understood that there were at least some consequences for some of his actions” (Rosenberg). This so-called “condition” should not have been factored into the decision reached in court as it lacked grounds and is impracticable

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