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'Scared Straight' High School Field Trip Hosted By Law Firm

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) - Important lessons were given to Southfield and Lathrup High students at the 1-800-Law-Firm office during a March 18 field trip.

Southfield High School Senior Diante Adams was shocked by some facts he heard. "Some stuff I did not even know, as far as the incarceration rate," he said.

He and his classmates attended a lecture on the law industry. The field trip was designed to both inform students on a potential law career and to help keep them on the straight and narrow.

"As much influence as we can have with the hour and a half they spend in our law office," said Ari Kresch, Founder and CEO of the law firm.

Kresch and his team at his Southfield offices say kids need to know a few things early. Things like the consequences of drunk driving, which could cost them their driving privileges, $10,000 in overall fees and penalties and a bad mark on their record - even jail time.

"High levels of alcohol in their system, they could probably get a Minor In Possesion or Driving While Intoxicated. Those are not charges to be joked around about," he said.

A lot of lessons learned, but what hits home is that the United States has the highest incarceration rate of all the countries in the world.

These students, shocked to hear that as of 2009, the incarceration rate was 743 per 100,000. While the U.S. represents about 5 percent of the world's population, it houses about 25 percent of the world's prisoners.

For Diante Adams, that bit of news has got him thinking about a different future. "It persuaded me to actually look into law even though I want to be a doctor," he said.

It's an attempt to make a difference in a world these students will soon face.

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