|
|
Celebrity justice: Lohan, others get star treatment Source Noelle Nikpour SunSentinel.com
In 1998, Lindsay Lohan played twin girls, a spirited American and a classy Brit, in the movie
"Parent Trap." It was a remarkable performance by a child actor capable of portraying convincingly two very different
people who appeared on screen at the same time.
Twelve years later, she is again playing two roles simultaneously — the addict who breaks the law, and the celebrity who pretty much gets away with it. Lohan served 14 days of a 90-day sentence in California's Century Regional Detention Facility after she violated her probation from a 2007 arrest for drunk driving (her second) and cocaine. How violated? She had missed seven alcohol education classes in 27 weeks. She offered a variety of excuses, including the death of an uncle whose funeral she did not attend, that the judge did not buy. Lohan is the latest entrant in the celebrity jail cell parade. (She spent 84 minutes in the same overcrowded facility in 2007.) Paris Hilton, sentenced to the same jail in 2007 for 45 days for reckless driving, actually spent 23 days in jail, most of it in medical wards. Nicole Richie and Khloe Kardashian each spent less than a day there on drunk driving charges. Then there's Charlie Sheen, who received no jail time despite a Christmas Day assault on his wife. He ended up with 30 days of rehab (do all celebrities go to rehab?) and the requirement to attend anger management classes after his wife told police that he had held a knife to her throat and threatened to have ex-police officers kill her. The two have since reconciled, but, if you ask me, he's still the real "half a man" on his show, "Two and a Half Men." Do celebrities actually get special treatment in the court system? I haven't seen a study proving it, but it certainly seems so. At the very least, when they are not getting preferential treatment from judges and juries, they can afford the types of lawyers who can keep them out of jail. Exhibit A: that unpleasantness a few years back involving a famous football player/actor going unpunished after murdering two people. There's nothing about the Constitution that promises that we'll all have equal wealth or equal access even to basic needs, such as health care. It doesn't seem fair to a kindergartener, but that's how we give people an incentive to work and to better their skills. But equal justice under the law is another story. Ensuring that we're all pretty much the same in the eyes of the court system is a cornerstone of the American legal system. In fact, the Constitution's preamble lists "establish justice" as the second reason that "We the People" created it, right after "in order to form a more perfect union." True, that union hasn't always been perfect, particularly in the pursuit of justice, but the winding march of history has taken us generally in the right direction. Most would agree that we're all supposed to be read the same Miranda rights, presumed innocent until proven guilty, and punished accordingly if so proven, no matter our race, ethnic group, or level of fame. No doubt human nature makes it harder to be tough on a pretty face, particularly if it's a face one recognizes. But even if most people aren't blind, justice is supposed to be.
 |
|
|
