[telecom] Haverhill teen to serve year in jail for fatal texting crash; judge calls for people to keep eyes on road

Haverhill teen to serve year in jail for fatal texting crash; judge calls for people to keep eyes on road

By Brian R. Ballou and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

6/6/2012

HAVERHILL - Saying he was sending a message of deterrence to Massachusetts drivers, District Court Judge Stephen Abany today imposed maximum sentences on Haverhill teen Aaron Deveau for causing a fatal crash by texting while driving.

The judge sentenced Deveau, who was 17 at the time of the crash, to concurrent sentences of 2 years on a charge of motor vehicle homicide and 2 years for a charge of negligent operation of a motor vehicle causing serious injury while texting.

Noting Deveau's youth and lack of criminal record, Abany ordered the teen to serve one year in the Essex County House of Corrections, suspending the rest of the sentences. Deveau, who has been free on bail since his arrest in 2011, was taken into custody by court officers.

Abany said from the bench that a criminal sentence is based on four principles - punishment, public safety, rehabilitation, and deterrence. Of those four issues, deterrence was his primary concern.

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Reply to
Monty Solomon
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[Moderator snip]

Wow. He'll serve a year at the county jail for taking a human life. So that's what deterrence smells like.

Reply to
Adam H. Kerman

Do you really think that, say, 50 years with frequent beatings would be more of a deterrent to an absent minded teenager? My recollection of my teen years is that one year and 50 years seemed equally close to eternal.

In a case like this, where he was negligent rather than malicious, a long prison term would primarily ensure that we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep him in prison, and when he got out, he'd have no skills other than for committing more crimes.

R's, John

Reply to
John Levine

He'll be housed, fed, and clothed for a year at county expense. Deterrence, you call that?

Cheers, -- tlvp

Reply to
tlvp

Have you ever visited a prison? Even the better ones are rather unpleasant places to live.

R's, John

Reply to
John Levine

Not sure what you're suggesting. A year's slavery and renting him out naked to work in the mines and live on what scraps he can steal from the guards? Maybe spending a year in the county jail sounds like fun to you, but most people would rather avoid it.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Garland

My recollection of teen years is different. If a certain act had a high probability of a swift and severe punishment, kids were aware of it and usually avoided it.

The old expression of deterrence, "swift, sure, and severe" punishment is true.

We had a spate of car thefts committed by kids looking for joy rides. Finally the cops got one of the kids and he was locked up. That put a stop to it.

A year in county jail doesn't cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars". He likely won't even serve the full year, either.

Kids are texting while driving today because the odds are very high they won't even get caught, and even if caught, nothing significant will happen to them

Reply to
HAncock4

Are you suggesting a year in jail can deter him from doing what he did? will deter others unfamiliar with his case from doing what he did? Seriously?

I'm suggesting the outlay of more than a year's full college tuition is nothing but cruel punishment, both of the 17-year-old being incarcerated and, even more unjustly, of the tax-paying public who are footing the bill.

I apologize for having been too opaquely curt in my first response.

Cheers, -- tlvp

Reply to
tlvp

Yes, of course. Are you saying that middle class suburban teens are saying "oh, the worst that will happen is that I'll spend a year in jail"?

I don't understand what point you're making here. What's the relative deterrent effect of a one year sentence that others haven't heard of and a 50 year sentence they haven't heard of? I certainly hope that texting teen went to jail shows up in the drivers' ed curriculum.

R's, John

Reply to
John Levine

True enough. However, if had been smoking crack while driving, say, and ran into a car and killed someone, he'd be getting ten to twenty.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

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