[Magdalen] Heather Cook

[Ginga Wilder]

Yes, Don.  Thank you for your thoughts.  I know they come from great loss
and pain.

Ginga

On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 9:58 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thank you for your well-worked thoughts, Don.
>
> Marion, a pilgrim
>
>
> On 10/28/2015 9:16 PM, thedonboyd at austin.rr.com wrote:
>
>> As some of you know, my daughter Amy was killed in November of 1992 when
>> a drunk driver drove his vehicle head-on into the car Amy was driving.  I
>> do not claim that this circumstance gives me any special authority or
>> wisdom greater than any of the rest of you, but it is fair to say that I
>> have had a long time to think about the issues around drunk driving.  Here
>> is what I think at present:
>>
>> (1)  The wishes of the family of the man who was killed are irrelevant to
>> the criminal case against the driver.  To define drunk driving as a crime
>> is to declare it an injury to the state, to all its people, and the
>> criminal justice system should aim to make them (not the family of the
>> decedent alone) whole if possible, and to deter others from committing
>> similar crimes in future.
>> (2)  "Retributive justice,"  aka vengeance, is not something I can
>> endorse, nor can I understand what people who claim that it can help to
>> give the victim's family "closure."
>> (3)  There is no such thing as "closure" as the term is used above.
>> (4)  To the extent that a fiscal injury to the family of the victim can
>> be demonstrated, there are civil remedies that may apply.  Liability (as
>> some of your posts have suggested) may attach to Ms Cook's employer as well
>> as to her person.   (Here--and only here IMO--are arguments about equity in
>> magnitude of punishment in relation to magnitude of offense relevant.)
>> (5)  As far as my awareness goes, drunk driving cases are extremely
>> difficult to prosecute.  This may be due to the very high incidence of
>> alcohol and/or drug abuse (and hence the disposition of jury panelists and
>> judges to think that in some circumstances they themselves could have
>> committed similar offenses).
>> (6)  As others have pointed out, severity of sentencing does not
>> correlate with reduced recidivism.  There is no evidence that the high cost
>> of incarceration is compensated by reduction in the incidence of offenses.
>>
>> Finally, sin is sin is sin.  Heather Cook's sin (in this and in all her
>> life) is between her and God, and is none of my (or anybody else's) damn
>> business.
>>
>> God be merciful to me, a sinner.  God be merciful to Heather, a sinner.
>>
>> .
>>
>>
>