Framing Exercise

Framing Exercise

1. Affluenza v. Manslaughter

  Members: Connor Deshong, Jennifer Ruppi, Liz Holman, Nicole Colon, Hailee Milligan

2. Sources

Connor:

1. Connor DeShong, (b) “‘Affluenza’: Is it real?” (c) CNN (d) http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/health/affluenza-youth/index.html

1. Connor DeShong, (b) “Sometimes 'poor little rich kids' really are poor little rich kids” (c) Reuters (d) http://news.trust.org//item/20160105210916-davw7?view=print

1. Connor DeShong, (b) “Teen sentenced to 10 years probation, rehab in 4 deaths” (c) Star Telegram (d) http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article3839368.html

1. Connor DeShong, (b) “Ethan Couch moved to adult jail” (c) Fox 4 News (d) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMAq6wihQI

Jennifer:

1. Jennifer Ruppi (b) "Affluenza: the latest excuse for the wealthy to do whatever they want" (c) The Guardian (d) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/15/affluenza-texas-dui-ethan-couch

1. Jennifer Ruppi (b) "There’s No Defense for Affluenza" (c) Slate (d) http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/12/ethan_couch_affluenza_defense_critique_of_the_psychology_of_no_consequences.html

1. Jennifer Ruppi (b) "‘Affluenza’ Defense? Teen Avoids Jail For Fatal DWI After Psychologist’s Diagnosis Of Unrecognized Condition" (c) Medical Daily (d) http://www.medicaldaily.com/affluenza-defense-teen-avoids-jail-fatal-dwi-after-psychologists-diagnosis-unrecognized-condition

1. Jennifer Ruppi (b) "No such thing as ‘affluenza?’ Not so fast." (c) The Washington Post (d) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/07/no-such-thing-as-affluenza-not-so-fast/

Liz:

1. Liz Holman, (b) “‘Afluenza’ teen, Ethan Couch, told he has to sit in prision for another year”, (c) New York Daily News, (d) http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-denied-early-prison-release-article-1.3055905

1. Liz Holman, (b) “Are We Raising a Generation of “Affluenza” Teen?”, (c) USA Today, (d) https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/03/madd-president-stop-trend-combining-drunk-driving-social-media-column/534244001/

1. Liz Holman, (b) “Gainsville woman charged with vehicular Manslaughter”, (c) The Gainsville Sun, (d) http://www.gainesville.com/news/20170811/gainesville-woman-charged-with-vehicular-manslaughter

1. Liz Holman, (b) “Ventura man pleads not guilty to vehicular manslaughter charges”, (c)  Ventura County Star, (d) http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2017/08/22/ventura-man-pleads-not-guilty-vehicular-manslaughter-charges/591073001/

Nicole:

1. Nicole Colon (b) “The Affluenza Defense” (c) Time (d) http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/12/the-affluenza-defense-judge-rules-rich-kids-rich-kid-ness-makes-him-not-liable-for-deadly-drunk-driving-accident/
2. Nicole Colon (b) “Affluenza: the latest excuse for the wealthy to do whatever they want” (c) The Guardian (d) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/15/affluenza-texas-dui-ethan-couch
3. Nicole Colon (b) “Affluenza isn’t as crazy as it sounds” (c) CNN (d) http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/18/opinion/cevallos-case-for-affluenza/index.html
4. Nicole Colon (b) “Affluenza: Is it real?” (c) CNN (d) http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/health/affluenza-youth/index.html

Hailee:

1. Hailee Milligan (b) “There’s No Defense For Affluenza” (c) Slate (d) http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/12/ethan_couch_affluenza_defense_critique_of_the_psychology_of_no_consequences.html

1. Hailee Milligan (b) “No, Affluenza Is Not A Real Thing” (c) The Daily Beast (d) http://www.thedailybeast.com/no-affluenza-is-not-a-real-thing

1. Hailee Milligan (b) “Confessions of a rich kid: ‘Affluenza happened to me” (c) NY Post (d) http://nypost.com/2015/12/31/is-affluenza-really-a-thing/

1. Hailee Milligan (b) “Therapist calls ‘affluenza’ a real condition more common than some may think” (c) Fox (d) http://www.fox4news.com/news/1631521-story

3. Supporting Evidence

Manslaughter:

There is research by psychologists proving that “affluenza” is not a real reason to let rich kids get away with their actions. In the example of Ethan Couch, he killed four people while driving drunk. If you follow his story during and after court, it is clear that he has participated in underage drinking before and continued to make negative decisions that have consequences he should be held accountable for. The result of his actions lead to the death of four innocent people which he showed  no remorse for and eventually fled to Mexico. The president of Mother’s Against Drunk Driving, Colleen Church,  discusses how the trend of “affluenza” has increased after Couch and has increased the dangers with teens now livestreaming the crashed on different social medias due to Hollywood and the news not treating it seriously. Church demands we need to treat and reports drunk driving as the violent crime that it is.

Affluenza:

Most articles which suggested that “affluenza” is a real condition used research by psychology professors. According to research by Suniya S. Luthar and Barry Schwartz, affluenza actually does exist- and is becoming a growing issue. They discuss some contributing factors as evidence for affluenza in their piece, stating that: “Sometimes ‘poor little rich kids’ really are ‘poor little rich kids.’” Studies suggest a growing rate of alcohol and marijuana use/abuse among affluent teens in relation to inner-city teens. The second factor is that crime rates are comparable between suburban teens and inner-city teens. White-collar crimes are typically associated with stealing, while inner-city crimes are more related to self-defense. Lastly, affluent youth is two to three times more likely to experience depression and anxiety than the average youth.

4. Cialdini’s 6 Persuasive Strategies/Descriptive Norms/Injunctive Norms:

Reciprocity: N/A -Nothing in the article or actual case is given with the expectation of receiving something in return

Consistency: In the articles Ethan Couch shows a lack of consistency by telling people “he showed no remorse for causing the devastation. In fact, he bragged to a witness, ‘I’m Ethan. I can get you out of all this’” (Church).

Social Proof: According to “Confessions of a rich kid: ‘Affluenza’ happened to me,” a man named John believes in the reality of affluenza because he claims he also experienced affluenza. Although John did not call it affluenza at the time, after seeing Couch’s defense of affluenza, he firmly believes he was also a victim of the phenomenon. Therefore, affluenza became more acceptable after seeing it used by others.

Liking: While researching the topic, we found we tend to like and trust sources that came from reliable website over information that came from a tweet or facebook post.

Authority: Ethan Couch’s defense, as well as testimonies by various psychologists and therapists from the articles argued that affluenza was a legitimate mental illness. Due to their positions and experience in psychological fields, their evidence was seen as legitimate.

Scarcity: Ethan Couch belonged to a small group of individuals that were labeled as having a disease called “affluenza”, which seems to only apply to the kids of wealthy families. Whereas anyone outside of that group has the term “vehicular manslaughter” immediately applied to their case.

5. Ontological Nature of Each Frame:

Pro-vehicular manslaughter is a primarily positivist argument, which is built on the foundation that there is only one reality that is observable and measurable. In this case, those that argue for affluenza believe that the alleged mental illness could not be helped due to familial and environmental factors. They argue that rich kids do not know any better than what they are exposed to, therefore justifying affluenza out of mere ignorance of other world perspectives.

The pro-affluenza is a social constructivist argument. It is built on the idea of the perspective focuses on wealthy families not teaching their children consequences and therefore the guilty teens cannot be punished now for their actions. Their reality is not aligned with society’s due to how they were raised and should not have to go through society’s punishment for regular vehicular manslaughter.

6. “Neutral Frame”:

It would be very difficult to write an article in a “neutral frame”, especially for a story such as this one when it has the possibility to affect so many people. To make a story reporting on it completely neutral. There would need to be information for both sides of the case and more facts than opinions about the entire situation. A good idea would also be to have an editor check the way the article was written to make sure no negative or positive connotations were attached to either side of the arguments.