NEW YORK, N.Y. - A New York judge this week gave a Coast Guard member convicted of drunk driving a difficult choice: go to jail or join the military.
Judge Ana Johnson handed down a 6-month sentence suspended for two years to Karl Carmichael for drunk driving, a Class A misdemeanor. If the 22-year-old were to enlist in the real military in the next month, however, Johnson would overturn any jail time.
Judges have long ordered people to “join the military or go to jail” for committing minor offenses, the logic being martial discipline and service will better set a person straight over the long term than prison.
