What makes a crime more heinous than another? We usually think it has to do with intention. Murder, which implies pre-meditation, is more seriously punished than manslaughter, which implies lack of premeditation.
However, we tend to respond less to intentions than we do to actual circumstances. On Aug. 26, a 22-year-old man driving over a bridge in Fukuoka rear-ended an SUV containing a family of five. The collision pushed the SUV through a railing, and the vehicle plunged into Hakata Bay. The two parents survived with minor injuries, but their three children, aged 4, 3 and 1, died.
The police determined that the man who caused the accident was drunk at the time, thus inflating an accident into a heinous crime. Had there not been children in the car, the incident would not have received as much attention, but because three innocent lives were lost and the parents' heroic attempts to save them were in vain, the coverage was extremely dramatic. The media are now on a crusade against driving under the influence (DUI). Every day since the Fukuoka accident, the press has reported at least one -- but usually two or three -- drunk driving accidents, whereas previously they reported very few.