Introduction
Tom Randell, a college senior, hosted a Halloween party in California, where alcohol was deliberately served to people under 21 and this is a crime as per legal drinking age mentioned by the justice system of the state. However, Kelly Greene, a junior student of 18 consumed high amounts of alcohol at the party and was continuously encouraged to drink more by Tom Randell as per witnesses like William Doyle who actually stated in the witness for prosecution that Tom Randell actually ‘pressured’ Ms. Greene to drink more. On her way back she, in her intoxicated self at 12:15 am, overran two fellow students, Melissa Anderson and Edward Montgomery. The former was killed instantly and the latter suffered severe injury. The case against Kelly Greene is vehicle manslaughter and driving under the influence of intoxication. The case against Tom Randell is more serious, it is involuntary manslaughter.
Enthymeme
It was found that in some of the early self-report studies, like Noyers and Yun, conduct that is illegal acts were as common in teens as in adults. Under such conditions it is only logical to consider the criminal justice system as a homogeneous authority that would not discriminate between an adult and a teenager as a juvenile and treat them only on the basis of the crime committed. In this case, one of the guilty parties Kelly Greene is minor at 18 years and the other is Tom Randell, 21. Thus, Ms. Greene should be equally convicted along with Tom Randell. However, in the case of Tom Randell it is clear that being an adult it was his duty to stop Ms. Green from consuming alcohol but he not only insister her in taking more intoxication but he actually forced her to a situation of disaster, which, according to prosecution witness Helen Brooks, was waiting to happen.
However, in accordance with the Conservative tendency of the criminal justice system it is believed that the criminal activities are acts by the citizens themselves. It assumes that the street crimes, like assault, robbery, rape or murder, that are committed are actually the deed by the members of the society and in order to prevent these criminal activities it is essential for the citizens to understand the goodness of being a good citizen and a citizen must avoid situations that could potentially result in trouble, like taking a walk in the park in the middle of the night. (Karmen, 75) The advantage of this theory is that it includes all the members of the society and thus it regards all the population can be regarded as potential victims of criminals. This makes it possible for the criminal justice system to include all members of the society under suspicion. As the criminal is part of the society, it is impossible to leave out the criminal so a citizen should always be ready for any potential criminal activity. The greatest disadvantage of this tendency is that it is applicable for crimes that are regarded as street crimes. It cannot be applied to white collar crimes where only a section of the society is generally involved. Thus, it can be stated that the two students, Melissa Anderson and Edward Montgomery, should not have taken a walk at 12:15 am. That is definitely not a time to stay out.
But from the general point of view of the criminal justice system the main culprits were Tom Randell and Kelly Greene and it is obvious that they should be charged and prosecuted in the eyes of law. It is true that Kelly Greene was directly responsible for the accident but she is not an adult and she was insisted and forced into taking intoxication. On the other hand, Tom Randell is the chief criminal even though he was not present in the scene of accident as he deliberately put Greene in a situation that would ultimately cause an accident. In the case of Tom Randell cannot be charged in the context of first degree murder because he was not directly involved in the death caused by the accident. However, it is undeniable that he is the main reason, though involuntary, behind the accident. In any case, Tom Randell is guilty of providing intoxication to minors and forcing drink. Thus, there is every legal option to prove Tom Randell guilty and the criminal justice procedure should be carried out accordingly.
Conclusion
Justice can be late but not unjust. But it should be remembered that there are so many proceedings involved in the whole process that there is always an outside chance that these long drawn activities and specification of technical judgments could ultimately lead to improper results. Though there is a common perception about the legal system that a ‘judgment delayed is a justice denied.’ But it cannot be overlooked that there are a number of variables involved within the proper implementation of the system. So, Tom Randell should be sentenced to seven year in prison and Kelly Greene should be sentenced to 1 year in prison.
Work cited
Karmen, Alice. Crime victims: An introduction to victimology (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2007.