justice

Oye. Paris Hilton. I feel a little dirty even typing that. Well, apparently "justice" has been served. Here is a bulleted list of my thoughts on the Paris Hilton fiasco.

1. What kind of idiot (I know she's a celebrity, but she must have SOME brain cells to rub together up there) hears her publicist tell her that it's ok to drive on a suspended license, and thinks it's true? Honestly. If she has to SIGN SOMETHING, one would think that she got what it meant.
2. When I heard she was actually sentenced to jail the following popped into my brain: "wow, a judge who actually believes in the law" "there is no way that she will serve any time" "its a media stunt". Now, I've completed a minor in criminology and am currently enrolled in the sociology of correctional facilities, so I know what jails are extremely over crowded, and it's very common to choose your time to serve and get turned away because the jail is full. You have to wait, to serve your time. Even if you do get in, you often serve short periods of time because the jails are stuff fulled of all the people we want to get "tough on crime" with, who will just be back in 5 days anyway. So it honestly didn't surprise me that she got out early. I do however think it's funny that they said it was for "medical reasons", like jails don't have an infirmary and psych staff on hand ....
3. Being called back: finally, they are making an example out of her. Exactly what they should have done from the start. If there is one thing that our justice system is, it's inconsistent. So scaring the public by showing them that "hey even the rich are not immune" sends a message if nothing else. MAYBE, that will happen now. Unfortunately, I doubt it will.
4. Why do we care so much? I know that our lives are full of nothing but media nonsense but seriously. Why don't we address why she couldn't stay her full term. Our prisons are overcrowded because we have imposed arbitrary sentencing laws on our judges that leave them with no decisons to make. We sentence people to 20 years for having an ounce of pot in their pocket. Honestly, Paris Hilton violating her parole is not a real issue. Why don't we think about what is.

Now if you excuse me, I need to go look up pictures of her in the back of a police car with no makeup on!