Frank Trippett: Breaking The Law

Many people don’t even think about how many laws they are breaking on a daily basis. This short excerpt taken from “A Red Light for Scofflaws” ,written by Frank Trippett, draws attention to the fact the people tend to break minor laws without any thought or care to their acts. He begins by explaining that laws like the tax code violations and littering broke frequently. Trippet goes claims that people don’t care about laws like these because are no real consequences for their actions. The author argues that more citizens should obeys minors order to get people to realize that breaking these laws could result in misfortune. The author uses a informative and cautionary tone to scofflaws everywhere.

Frank Trippett in his passage “A Red Light for Scofflaws” argues that people who used to be law-abiding citizens are now becoming criminals thanks to ‘minor’ laws. Trippett supports his argument first by providing the statistic that millions of Americans are taking increasing liberties with ‘minor’ laws. Then he supplies a few examples of different ‘minor’ laws that people nowadays are ending to break, such as littering or speeding. He does this in order to warn law-abiding citizens to be careful so that they do not turn out like the lawbreakers. Trippett provides a concerned tone towards the audience of ordinary citizens.

If one is charged with a crime then the eighteen year old is no longer tried in juvenile court; he is tried as an adult. In reality, an eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year old can do just about everything that a twenty-one year old can do, except legally consume alcohol. Who is to say that en eighteen, nineteen, or twenty-year old is not mature enough to properly consume alcohol? Previous research suggests that when there is a more strenuous alcohol policy there will be lower alcohol abuse and consumption among teens (Grube, Kypri, and Paschall 1850). This actually causes teens to feel the need to rebel instead of the thought of teens abusing the privilege. This is a rather immature personality trait to have as a teenager, but there might actually be a reduction in drinking because teens are no longer being rebellious and breaking the law. The whole point of “becoming an adult” is to give them the ability to take responsibility for their own actions, so why should we not let them?

Take my 16 year old sister as an example. She currently has a boyfriend and would mostly come back home late. If she didn’t break the law and listened to her parents’ pleas of coming back home early, then she wouldn’t have time with her boyfriend and experience happiness. Another example is my 15 year old family friend. He is a pothead who would always smoke weed without his parents knowing about it. Before, he was a social outcast, but now he’s doing something that satisfies him. All in all, teenagers break the law because they’re tired of having limited freedom when they were younger, and in doing so, they experience

People break the law just to break the law they want to know if they can get away with it just like when the book reads “ Do you ever read any of the book you burn? He laughed that's against the law” this quote shows that just because it's against the law to read book people do it anyway just to see if the can get away with it because it's illegal. The book also reads “my uncle drove slowly on the highway once. He drove 40 mph and they jailed him for two days” now when people break the

Underage drinking now classified as illegal triggers a barrier and a limitation to what and how one allows their selves to think and outsmart the laws creating the rebellious underage drinker. For example college, “the 21-year-old drinking age has created a climate in which terms like "binge" and "pregame" have come to describe young peoples ' choices about alcohol; in which the law is habitually and thoughtlessly ignored by adolescents and adults alike; in which colleges and communities across the nation are plagued with out-of-control parties, property damage, and belligerent drunks” a main source (Choose Responsibly). The behavior of a person under the age of 21 is in no doubt the irresponsible crazy typical

On the flip side, if the age restriction were lower, young adults will not view alcohol as a forbidden fruit, so they will feel less encouraged to drink for the sake of rebelling or exploring. In addition, they will have the comfort of knowing they can drink again in the near future, so they will be less likely to drink large quantities at once. Not only will the intent of drinking change, but also it would be more acceptable for educational programs to teach high school upperclassmen a thorough understanding of what it means and how to drink responsibly. Proponents for the current age minimum counter this by saying that the lower age minimum would increase drinking among young adults and result in more drinking-related violence and accidents; they do not believe lowering the age restriction will help increase responsible drinking. In response, when looking at similar countries such as Europe which have lower drinking age minimums, there are fewer issues with alcohol-related traffic accidents and violence, showing that a less strict

Once the allure of alcohol is no longer a social trend, parents would be stripped of their worries of their “rebellious teenagers sneaking off to basements and backwoods to binge drink far from adult supervision” (Griggs). Parents cannot protect their children from every hazard in the world, but they can educate their kids and desensitize their kids to the thrill of drinking out of adult supervision. Opposers claim that the current law “...[diminishes] the number of traffic deaths caused by young drunk drivers...” but they fail to realize that “...tougher seat belt and D.U.I. rules have contributed to the decrease, too” (Glaser). “Raising the drinking age hasn't reduced drinking -- it’s merely driven it underground..” (Glaser). With the legal drinking age at 18 and the incorporation of alcohol awareness classes, citizens would develop safer habits when consuming

In the U.S., teens can do a lot once they turn 18. Citizens at the legal age can choose the potential leader of our country, serve our nation, live in their own place, and start killing themselves with cigarettes. Lowering the law for alcohol consumption will help more minors at the legal age and college campuses stay out of trouble. Half of the students drinking and providing alcohol at school are under 21. Changing the law to 18+ will also help alcohol related deaths by teaching teens to drink responsibly. Exceptions are only just making the law for drinking more complicated and causing more alcohol related deaths. Not everyone knows about these drinking laws either because people travel from state to state. Not knowing all the deviations to the law is putting more lives in danger than it is

Envision if everyone in the world decided to go around breaking laws because they did not agree with them. There would be a bunch of unnecessary arrests, great amount of violence, and the world would be a terrible place to live. As citizens of this country we have the commitment to adhere to the rules, laws, and submit to any consequences we may receive. In the great words of Socrates, “One should never do wrong in return, nor do any man harm, no matter what he may have done to you.” Breaking laws is never morally justifiable.

Several states like Michigan, Massachusetts, and Maine in the United States of America lowered their drinking ages to 18. As a direct result there was increase in alcohol related clashes. This clearly shows that the teenagers are not ready to be left to drink freely. This situation can be attributed to the fact that the

Teenagers are irresponsible. Young adults can not handle real life situations. New generations do not know how to use things in moderation. These are all stereotypes of America’s youth, yet they all seem to refer to teachable things. They are all things that need to be learned. Most of the time, the young are looked down on for messing up in life, yet the reality is that anyone can screw up, it just is more likely to happen to someone who has less experience as opposed to someone who has more. The more time a person is given to learn about something, and the more guidance they have, the more experienced and reliable they will become. This applies to many things, but one specific example is alcohol. Typically teens are seen as too irresponsible to have access to substances containing alcohol, but if they were to legally have it in their lives, it may educate them sooner as to how to use it properly and in moderation. In the United States of America, the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen years old.

Consuming alcohol is considered a rite of passage for the average young individual. The minimum drinking age required to legally consume alcohol varies in each country, ranging from it always being legal to drinking being illegal at any age, but most countries have set the age at 18-19. In the United States, as of 1988, the MLDA is 21 throughout its entire territory, while the age of majority starts at 18. This paper analyzes the arguments to lower the minimum drinking age and unify it with the age of majority. The factors discussed are alcohol-related traffic accidents, encouragement of unsafe drinking habits, and inconsistency between the perception of adulthood and the MLDA.

Breaking the law is morally justifiable and acceptable when the law in itself is iniquitous and if that law violates human rights and conscience; Certainly, rules are established for us to follow but we as human beings should be able to differentiate the right and the wrong and incase laws need to be violated for the right cause even with hard consequences, breaking the law can be justified; considering the situations and the purposes.

I have yet to see a teenager drive down my street at 25mph, it is usually about 40mph. What will it take for the laws to be changed? Is it going to take a politician’s little girl being killed by a speeding teen to wake people up? Maybe if we were to take some extra precautions in issuing drivers’ licenses, we would not have so many of our young teens dying in car crashes.