INTOXICATION SHOULD NEVER BE AN EXCUSE FOR 'ANY' CRIME

Here's a link to a story critical of how CNN reported the case of two high school football players found guilty of rape.

http://www.thefrisky.com/2013-03-18/cnn-mourns-that-rapists-lives-have-been-ruined-by-steubenville-guilty-verdict/

In a nutshell, it appears as though the perpetrators and the victim were all intoxicated and an assault took place.

I think what is the hardest point to hammer home in a situation like this is that these boys, while guilty, did not necessarily prey on this girl.  They were drunk, made an error in judgement and it is going to cost them (as it should).  It wasn't like they grabbed this girl, unwillingly, off the street and committed a vicious act.  That doesn't make the crime less serious nor does it excuse their actions.

What bothers me is the leniency shown on a daily basis to drunk drivers in our culture, who kill innocent and unsuspecting people by way of getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while drunk.

For some reason, we show compassion through the court system for those people; yet we bring the hammer down with a crushing blow for those that make a comparable error in judgement when it comes to being 'horny' and under the influence of alcohol.

I don't think you will find a convicted drunk driver anywhere that will say, "Yeah, I decided I'd go out and get totally wasted and see if I can get into a fatal car accident."  I mean, it's ridiculous to think that.  I'd say the same applies here.  I don't think these high school football guys set out to commit a crime that night, but through alcohol and hormones they ended up committing one anyway.

But if rape is rape, then murder is murder.  If you are expected to keep your faculties and your hormones together when horsing around with a member of the opposite sex (not an unreasonable request, either, don't get me wrong I am not condoning rape) while consuming booze, then the same expectations should also apply to other crimes.

In short, I'm not saying have compassion for these high school football players; but rather let's show the same level of intolerance to drunk drivers and other people who commit crime and pass off alcohol as an excuse.