Perhaps the best punishment for Randy E. Bresnahan, 18, charged with four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle in a recent accident that killed a Chicago family of four, would be to spend one day a week for the next several years speaking to high school and young college groups about his experience.
A similar incident occurred in Toronto a year or so ago in which a young man ended up killing his best friend. By speaking about it, the man was brought face to face again and again with his actions, thereby giving him more “punishment” than any prison sentence could do. But, more important, he was able to bring the real horror of the consequences of his drinking and driving vividly to his own mind and thus to the minds of each of his listeners. I have heard some of them interviewed, and their comments indicate that this is more effective than any ads about drinking and driving.
The whole experience eventually helped the lad live with himself, and it also helped his peers realize, far more effectively than ads, the dangers involved in drinking and driving.
