mycatharsis.com

Maybe it’s just me, but this whole Paris Hilton thing gets more distasteful by the day. It seemed pretty hard to tell at first whether this is a case of a celebrity getting off easy or a woman being pursued more for who she is than what she’s done. And I’m no lawyer, and even if I was, I wouldn’t be doing my lawyering in California, so it’s pretty hard to say exactly what ‘normal’ treatment is for a minor parole violation of a misdemeanor drunk driving conviction in California. Still, I have to conclude that releasing someone with a 23 DAY sentence early to serve their time at home probably happens a lot more than something like a next day hearing by a judge to determine if the actions by the Department of Corrections in a case involving house arrest for a parole violation of a misdemeanor DUI conviction was correct or not.

The argument that this only happens for celebrities doesn’t convince me, no matter how draconian our correctional system has become. There are so many fourth, fifth, or even tenth or higher, arrests for DUI that it’s safe to say that the punishments for a first arrest are probably not all that severe. Home detention IS a common punishment as our prisons and jails start to overflow with people. Debra Lafave was sentenced to three years house arrest for sexual assault! AFAIK, Hilton has only had this one arrest, but considering I usually make an active effort to avoid stories about her, I’d be the last person who could speak to that.

No doubt that Hilton has probably brought a lot of this on herself. From the crimes she committed to what essentially seems like an entire country “rubber-necking” to watch her go off this cliff, she set herself up for all of it. She’s pretty much the last person in America anyone would expect to be able to survive in jail or prison. This has become a sideshow in a way, Simple Life 2007 edition. Watch as an heiress melts down in LA County Jail!!

On the one hand, yeah, it’s pretty ludicrous that she’s melting down after only a couple days. Yeah, it certainly shows she can’t handle it, as I’m sure everyone suspected. But watching someone melt down to this degree really is uncomfortable to watch, no matter who they are or how they’ve behaved. If this criminal was not named Paris Hilton, I have a hard time imagining a home detention sentence in a case like this would generate controversy. Nor would moving someone from jail to home detention for two weeks to help ensure no psychological breakdown takes place. But maybe I’m being naive.