It was overwhelmingly enacted by the Senate on Friday in Tennessee, which mandates anybody convicted of murdering the parent of an underage kid in an alcohol-related accident to pay reparations to the deceased’s young children.
After a drunk driver killed a five-year-old girl and left her orphaned, the law, dubbed Bentleys Law, passed the Tennessee House with unanimous support and now requires drivers who kill someone while intoxicated or commit aggravated vehicular murder to compensate the victim’s minor child. The court will determine this amount based on the needs, financial resources, and living standards of the minor and any surviving parents or guardians in each instance.
According to Memphis CBS station WREG, if the criminal is incarcerated and unable to pay the restitution, the court will let them one year after their release to begin making payments, which would extend until the kid reaches 18 and graduates from high school.
“A parent is responsible for the education and upbringing of that child and when then that parent [is] removed from the home over something so, in my opinion, foolish where we drink and drive and take the life of an innocent then someone needs to be responsible for the upbringing of those children,” State Rep. Mark White, a Republican, told the news outlet on Thursday.
“When we have individuals who commit these crimes, and DUI is a crime when we have that type of reckless endangerment that results in death then we have an obligation to send a message,” said Rep. G.A. Hardaway, a Democrat.
“You’ll have individuals who might be thinking about making the law in this way … might be thinking about it will look at those examples and say it’s wrong. It’s not just about the legalities, but it’s about the moralities,” Hardaway added.