By Uche Onyebadi

Influenza, we know, is a terrible health hazard. “Afluenza,” we might not have heard, is a malignant social disease that assaults the conscience of mankind. Here is a glimpse into how “Afluenza” gobbles up America.

On Tuesday, December 10, 2013, a 16-year-old American boy was arraigned before a judge in Forth Worth, Texas, for sentencing. Last June, the young man, Ethan Couch, had been driving his dad-bought-me pick-up truck, stupendously drunk to the point of being thrice above the legal limit in the state.

In his drunken stupor he lost control of the pick-up truck, rammed into several cars and ended at a tree. At the end of this man-made tragedy, four people died and a number of other people sustained injuries.

Accidents happen, you might say. But, this is different.  Driving under the strong influence of alcohol was one thing, but the judgment was what stunned everyone.

State District Judge Jean Boyd only sentenced Ethan to 10 years of probation and ordered that the boy be immediately sent to an alcohol treatment centre where he would not be in contact with his parents for a while.

According his lawyers, Couch, son of a Texas millionaire, will most likely spend his rehabilitation time at a facility in Newport Beach, California. That facility costs $450,000 per year – something that his affluent parents will pay without noticing any dent on their bank statement.

During Ethan’s trial, Dr. G. Dick Miller, the psychologist brought in by his defence team, characterized the young boy as suffering from “Afluenza” and needed help instead of being sent to jail. According to the expert, “Afluenza” is a condition where a young person born into wealth and affluence, is simply left by his or her parents to do just anything he or she wanted, without an atom of restraint.

The court also heard about other misdemeanors Ethan had committed in the past, for which his parents never sanctioned him in any way or taught him the difference between right and wrong.

Judge Jean Boyd bought the “affluenza” testimony and sentenced Ethan to a holiday resort in a facility for the affluent, leaving the dumbfounded parents and relatives of the dead and wounded to lick their wounds and bury their dead.

As things stand in the minds of many, money and affluence have been used to buy justice! Of course, tens of thousands of Americans have expressed their shock and outrage at this “affluenza” verdict. CNN’s Anderson Cooper is just one of the people who cannot understand the logic or rationale behind the judgment.

In reality, “affluenza” is not a medical condition. It is only a coinage to describe how the affluent undermine the system and go scot-free. However, it is but a symptom of the malaise in the justice system in America. If you are rich and famous, the temptation to buy justice for yourself will be overwhelming.

Don’t get me wrong, the American justice system is one of the best in the world. It is a system that puts the high and mighty behind bars for several years. As I write, the former governor of Illinois state where I live, Rod Blagojevich, is still in prison for illegal activities while in office. So also is the scam-virtuoso, Bernard Lawrence “Bernie” Madoff, whose Ponzi-scheme duped hundreds of people and organizations to the tune of billions of dollars over several years.

But, it is also true that the rich and famous get off much easier than the rest of ordinary citizens. With their awesome wealth they hire the best lawyers, forensic experts, psychiatrists and other experts to beat the system.

If Ethan had been born into a poor family, it is hard to imagine that he would be responsible for the death of four innocent people and be told by a judge to go to rehab in a very cozy and rosy environment.  Here’s an irony. In 2012, Judge Jean Boyd had a young 14-year-old boy thrown into jail for ten years because he had punched a man unprovoked, and the victim died. That boy did not have rich parents, and “affluenza” did not feature in his “medical” history.

The American justice system is unduly harsh on two sets of people: the poor and non-Caucasians. Here is what statistics show about the rate of incarcerations between black and white drug users: “About 14 million Whites and 2.6 million African Americans report using an illicit drug (but) 5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites” (see http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet). Hispanic drug users do not fare better than their African American counterparts on incarcerations.

The scourge of “affluenza” is that it creates two countries in one America.  Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s flag-bearer in the 2012 presidential election, may have publicly disowned his secretly recorded speech about the “other Americans”  – the 47 percent he did not think would vote for him. But, Romney was right. There is an America for the rich and affluent and there is another American for the rest of the population, racial heritage notwithstanding, and even when it comes to justice!