Affluenza

We all know money talks when it comes to crime and punishment (one of my favorite novels, by the way). From time to time, I share an anecdote about my family or a blurb about something I’m writing.

Today I want to share something my son wrote and produced, though I didn’t watch it myself until last night.

When you hear about an untimely death due to a drunk driver, how do you react? My attitude has always been: Being drunk should not get you off.

We all have our stories. One of my son Clay’s first athletic coaches was named Foo. Foo coached travel soccer, and he was a kind, positive role model for his two sons, for Clay, and for many other kids. His wife was a fabulous math teacher, and we sat through countless soccer matches together.

Some years later, Foo and his wife were sitting in traffic with another couple when a drunk driver crashed into their car from behind. Foo and his wife both died.

And what if there were four deaths instead of one or two? “No amount of jailtime will bring those people back to their families,” I think and sometimes say.

What if the drunk driver is only sixteen years old and living alone? And what if the defense attorney argues he’s suffering from “affluenza” or having life too good, too rich, too easy?

Is affluenza an illness you’d like to contract? Think again!

To learn more, watch True Crime: Smugshot, on AMC+. The “Affluenza” episode, written and produced by Clay Jeter, appears as Episode 4 of Season 1.

One of the victims is a kind-hearted youth minister with a loving wife and kids of his own. “If I’d been the one to get killed,” his wife says, “I know he’d reach out to the kid driving the truck. No doubt in my mind.”

In about 45 minutes, “Affluenza” tackles drunk driving, poor parenting, horrendous consequences… forgiveness from where you least expect it, and tough decisions about justice. Well worth watching (AMC+ True Crime: Smugshot, Season 1, episode 4)!
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One of Joy’s stepdaughters in my novel, Joy After Noon, yields for a time to the allure of drugs, and a car wreck follows.