What is affluenza? Affluenza is said to be a psychological illness affecting wealthy young people – but is it just commonly used as an excuse for those to hide behind their mistakes? You decide if Ethan Couch was diagnosed correctly. The young boy took a joy ride one late night that will change his life forever.
The case of a Texas teenager, Ethan Couch who caused a fatal car accident
that killed four people and severely wounded another was unusually justified as “affluenza” by Couch’s defense team. “His family’s wealth had left him so spoiled that it impaired his judgement to tell right from wrong.”
A psychologist that was hired by Couch’s defense team testified that Ethan Couch was a perfect example of “affluenza” which is a term that was used to describe Couch’s irresponsible lifestyle associated with his affluent upbringing. He stated that “irresponsible parenting had strongly enabled the accident.” Despite the fact that Couch had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit at the time of the crash.
Along with the death of four people Ethan Couch’s mother, Tonya Couch faced up to 10 years in prison for helping her son escape to Mexico.
Tonya Couch was recently released from from a county jail after paying her bail of $75,000. She has been placed on electronic monitoring, random drug testing and reporting to authorities weekly for her conditions upon release.
Authorities had a feeling that Tonya and Ethan Couch would try to flee once more.
Soon enough Tonya and Ethan Couch fled Texas after a video on social media went viral showing Ethan clearly at a party where there was alcohol and likely other drugs, in violation of his probation.
Shortly after the video had surfaced Tonya Couch withdrew $30,000 from her account and told her husband that he would never see his son again.
The mother and son duo drove to a resort in Puerto Vallarta, where they were caught by Mexican authorities in a hunt that lasted more than two weeks.