I see that the social sanction in addition to the legal punishment is functioning as a measure of social control.
In Maxim's thread, there has been a lot of discussions on the perceived gap between the "what could have happened" based on the worst case scenarios and the actual punishment that one gets based on what he/she did involved in DUI. In Oda's case, he could have killed somebody, but he didn't. So he is charged only 100,000 yen. The legal system simply cannot punish a person for what they did not. But the thing is that DUI seems to be getting so much more stigmatized than 100,000 yen penalty worth.
I think that the best measure to address the perceived gap between “what could have happened scenarios” and “what one actually did” may be to increase the base value of the penalty for DUI. Japan indeed changed the laws during the last several years because of the enhanced awareness for DUI. The punishment used to be even less severe before than now. But I personally would like to see severer legal restrictions to be enacted over the years to come.
Social sanction such as firing employee for DUI and suspending to attend competitions seems to be working as another immediate voluntary social mechanism to address the perceived gap between "what could have happened" and "what he/she actually did".
A major difference is that the latter sanction is decided in a way that is quite context dependent. The contents of the social sanction are up to which social group/institution a person belongs to and who you are. It would depend on the social roles/responsibilities of the group/institution as well as on the roles/responsibilities that the person plays in the group/institution.
Further, the sanction is made voluntarily. It's up to how the group/institution perceives what the acceptable social standards should be for a member of the group/institution to live up to. It's like norms held by the community. There are not written rules. But because DUI is getting more and more socially stigmatized, the group/institution has to demonstrate their standard that the action is unacceptable for its member to take. Otherwise, the group/institution may not be accepted by other social groups/institutions.
Another thing is that it cannot force any mandatory compliance unlike the legal punishment. It's totally up to your free will whether or not to accept the sanction. Because once you decide to leave the group/institution he/she belongs to, this kind of sanction is no longer effective. Yet, as long as a person wants to be a member of a group/institution, he/she has to respect and live up to the standard held by the group/institution. Besides, having a history of being fired due to DUI certainly triggers in one’s repetition in the job market when seeking a new job.
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Added to Edit:
Regarding who gets what, big corporations and local governments tend to be particularly strict about DUI in their employees. For the former, the reputation matters. For the latter, following the laws is particularly important because they are law makers.
Young athletes also tend to get strict sanctions. I think it particularly scandalous for young athletes to be reported for any kind of substance abuse (underage drinking & underage smoking, drugs in any age, or DUI). They are youth who are considered to be still needing supervision from the adult team leaders. They also receive a large amount of public funds and supports from corporations, not to mention moral support from the public. So it is extremely important for them to maintain a clean image.
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In any case, Oda has taken his legal responsibility as an adult member of a civil society by receiving the legal punishment. He has been taking his responsibility as a top skater of the Federation by complying to all the punishments they decided. I also think that he has gracefully accepted his accountability as a celebrity as a top skater, who is often seen as a role model for kids, by showing his heartfelt remorse in the press conference. His social sanction was severer than it could have been if he were just an ordinary citizen, precisely because of his top skater status. But he accepted it very gracefully. As an individual as well, he seems to be taking his moral responsibility by his deep remorse and determination to change himself.
What he did was very dangerous, illegal, and morally and socially unacceptable. But I heartily support the way he gracefully accepted all of the consequences involved. I look forward to welcoming his comeback in winter.
