The more I thought about it today the angrier I became. I never expected to write a post about Paris Hilton on this blog. I’m incensed whenever mainstream media thinks that her life is worth reporting to the masses, especially in light of the real events in our world that go ignored. She is a harbinger of the Assault on Reason. But finally, today, Paris became relevant to me. TMZ.com has had the best blow-by-blow on the internet:
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Paris Hilton’s medical condition was purely psychological and that she was in peril of having a nervous breakdown, and that’s why she was released early this morning.
Psychiatrist Charles Sophy visited Hilton in jail yesterday and the day before. We’re told after Sophy’s visit yesterday, word was passed to the Sheriff that Hilton’s mental state was fragile and she was at risk.
The reason for releasing her had nothing to do with a rash or other physical issues. It was purely in her head. [Link]
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And the breakdown of our society is complete. Just think about this for a minute (if you haven’t been already). A rich white girl was convicted of being a drunk driver and sent to jail. She was convicted even after making use of the best lawyers that money could buy and having full and transparent use of the American legal system. After three days she gets out because prison was too much for her fragile mind and she wasn’t eating well. Meanwhile, you have so-called “enemy combatants,” some of them South Asian, who in many cases don’t get a lawyer or even get to hear the evidence against them. They are simply thrown into a cage. Not only do they not receive a get-out-of-jail-free card for mental illness, they get tortured in a manner meant to hasten mental illness. Even children. I know some of you think it might be unfair of me to compare Hilton to Guantanamo inmates. You are quite correct. The Guantanamo inmates have only allegedly committed a crime. And what about the thousands of non-rich women and juveniles in the American legal system? Many get raped or assaulted in prison without any justice. They don’t get to go home with an ankle bracelet if they cry about it or don’t eat the soggy vegetables on their plates. Mental illness is very real and shouldn’t be treated lightly (but it is unless you are rich). What we are witnessing here is a perfect example of the “Two Americas” that candidate John Edwards is always going on about.
This past week there has been a furious immigration debate around what some in Congress were calling the “Grand Bargain.” As of today the bill is dead. The reason many lawmakers give for opposing the bill is because they believe that in America the rule of law should come first. If illegal immigrants are breaking the law then they should get no concessions or amnesty (like, ummm Hilton). Other groups wanted the bill to fail because they saw it as a battle between the skilled and the unskilled (which can be translated to mean a battle between the potentially rich vs. the potentially poor). Why give an “unfair advantage” to poor huddled masses?:
Indian American legal experts and immigrant rights activists across the board have strongly opposed and rejected the comprehensive Immigration Reform Act 2007.
The compromise arrived at between the White House and the US Senate over the proposed Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act has been termed as a “sell out” by the Senate in the “grand bargain”…These are the worst set of immigration policies for high skilled immigrants in the civilized world.” According to Immigration Voice, the Senators that have crafted the new merit based system have announced that this model follows the legal immigration pathway developed in Canada and Australia, but the compromises that have been made have deluded the entire system into a cesspool of half baked immigration ideas. This bill takes away annual Greencards from an already low number of Greencards available to legal, skilled employment based immigrants and awards them to unskilled future guest workers and to the new untested merits based points system, as explained by Immigration Voice.
As an example, an agriculture worker can earn 25 points for working 100 days a year for 5 years, while a skilled individual will get 10 points for working the same number of years. [Link]
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p>First off, the above article is a misleading load of crap. Especially the part I put in boldface. There are many South Asian Americans that wanted this bill dead (or modified) for reasons opposite to the ones listed above. A purely merit-based system might tear apart families and discriminate against unskilled labor (which many would argue America needs to stay productive). Again, it is the haves vs. the have nots.
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p>So that brings me back to Paris Hilton. She is the tipping point. What she demonstrates is that as a society we are comfortable with two sets of rules and values: one for the rich and one for the poor, and that this often translates to “one for the natives and one for the foreigners.” If these are all signs of things to come and America strays too far from its egalitarian roots and the principles upon which it was founded (but has never practiced perfectly)…then we will all have more than Paris to worry about. We must throw Paris back into jail and simultaneously afford some real justice to those that deserve a fair trial.
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p>There is some hope at the 11th hour:
TMZ has learned that a judge has ordered Paris Hilton back to his Los Angeles courtroom, telling her she must attend tomorrow morning’s hearing. She could be sent BACK to the slammer!… [Link]
“What she demonstrates is that as a society we are comfortable with two sets of rules and values: one for the rich and one for the poor.”
Amen to that. I see this everyday, and it incenses me immensely. Not sure if someone’s already noted this, but she’s not even going to appear in person. Rather, she’ll be calling in to make her “appearance.” Yuck. Yuck is the sentiment that everyone has expressed about this situation, yet nothing will be done about it.
Abhi, Thanks for speaking about this.
The worst part of the whole Paris thing is that it sends a completely wrong message to young people. I thought that her jail sentence was good because it served as a counterpoint to the effect she was having -especially on yopung pre -teen girls some of whom find her appealing.What message are they getting now? That if you are rich enough and vapid enough – no rules apply to you?
Frankly, this release surprised me because I beleived that the US judicial system was fair .I hope they throw her back in the slammer.
@Glasshouses – “Randomizer, Stories like Paris, Lohan, etc exist to sedate the public. It benefits the elite who cultivate a herd of docile consumers while the world slowly decays”
I’ve always wondered who buys those ‘pitt and jolie break up!!!! Why Katie dumped Tom !!!!’ celebrity gossip crap at the checkout counters in all these supermarkets. Teenagers ? Rich ppl ? Poor people ? Just never seen anyone pick them up yet … I just wonder who their readers are. I guess we can’t really blame news media for reporting these non-news stories so high up on their headlines… its the readers who have displayed that amount of interest in her, and you could say that the news media is ‘just doing whats profitable’.
@Clueless #50 – Valid point about michelle rodriguez. I’m sure if the ppl we hold favourably – Nice guys like Matthew Fox, Rainn Wilson, Steve Carrell etc were in a similar place, we would have a certain amount of sympathy for them and wouldn’t bash their early releases. But the fact that this special treatment is towards Paris Hilton (who most of us hate because she is famous without any talents ) is the root cause of our frustration 🙂
“glass houses @43, anyone that quotes from godfather is the shit in my book.”
My pleasure. I do it all the time…I learned to make pasta sauce from watching the godfather, yunno the scene :)…I love the dialog in the car after the meeting of the dons (remember the oranges on the vast mahogany table) when Don Corleone is dropping science on Tom Hagen, “Tatalia is a pimp! he could have never have outfought Santino..” ..Amazing stuff.
I don’t think the purpose of the justice system (and penal system) is reform, anyway. In California it is all about punishment, punishment, punishment. This only varies at the county level depending on their intervention programs for reform. Her license is still suspended. If you’re going to have a system that is all about punishment, at least punish everyone equally. There is no way offenders of comparable crimes who are poor or people of color (or both) would get off the way she has. It’s a freaking joke.
Clueless, if you know California, you know that being Puerto Rican (or any Latino, for that matter) absolutely does NOT help you “get out of jail.” If anything, it increases your risk of being held in prison for a longer sentence than comparable white offenders. Also, I have no idea what the back story was around Michelle Rodriguez, but did she get a DUI and get stopped TWICE for driving on a suspended license before being sentenced? If not, her situation is not fair, but it is also not comparable to Paris.
I’ve always wondered who buys those ‘pitt and jolie break up!!!! Why Katie dumped Tom !!!!’ celebrity gossip crap at the checkout counters in all these supermarkets
Er…guilty. I don’t buy them, but I always look at all the covers. How else can I stay on top of all the Hollywood gossip? 😉
No way. While I do think she’s an insipid dredge on society, I also think this whole system is sick. If you are not going to offer “leniency” or rehabilitation oriented sentences to low-income people, then folks like Paris should have to do equal time. Maybe there would be some greater political outrage at the horrific abuses in the prison system if rich people actually spent time there.
Oh poor Paris. For the first time in her miserable entitled life, she’s having to deal with things how every civilian does. She broke the law and she’s got to do the time; imagine if it were any of us who got caught with liquor on our breath while exercising bad judgment to get behind a wheel — we’d be bitchslapped so fast, it’d make our heads spin.
But seriously folks, did any of us actually think that this rich white girl was going to get the same treatment as everyone else? Puh-leese. I was fuming when the news broke on E! that she was serving an “extended sentence” under house arrest. How about if that’s the case, you cut off her electricity, her money and her help staff and have her forage around for food in her own backyard?
What a dreadful wench. I wish she would just go away.
“What she demonstrates is that as a society we are comfortable with two sets of rules and values: one for the rich and one for the poor.”
Amen to that. I see this everyday, and it incenses me immensely. Not sure if someone’s already noted this, but she’s not even going to appear in person. Rather, she’ll be calling in to make her “appearance.” Yuck. Yuck is the sentiment that everyone has expressed about this situation, yet nothing will be done about it.
this wouldn’t have happened if she was jailed in a Red State rather than a Blue one….
Camille, the driving record of Michelle Rodriguez includes hit and run and multiple dui’s and speeding tickets and driving with a suspended license. Unless I’m mistaken, her drivinig record is worse then Ms.Hilton. My comment about her being Puerto Rican, was about how people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson playing the race card with Ms.Hilton getting out early.
This all thing with Ms.Hilton makes me feel better about India Justice system. The great thing about India, is that the biggest star of Bollywood are treated no better then some no-name dalit when comes going to jail for there crimes.
I wanted to point out that the Sabhnanis (the Long Island desi couple who allegedly tortured and beat their Indonesian maids) who were featured here on SM a while back, have also been allowed home arrest, on the condition that they pay for installing all the necessary surveillance equipment. SO it’s rich people of any background, not just rich whites, who can avail of special privileges.
The great thing about India, is that the biggest star of Bollywood are treated no better then some no-name dalit when comes going to jail for there crimes.
Oh, please. Let’s not be naive. A big Bollywood star may get arrested in India, but the treatment he receives from the police is going to be a lot different than some no-name person off the street. The stories you hear about police brutality in India are not all made up.
Furthermore, the Indian criminal justice system is notorious for its slowness. There are prisoners in the Indian penal system who have now been in jail longer awaiting trial than the actual sentence would have been for their crime.
I dont think it is breakdown of the system. The system has its faults sure.
I can see it as a miscarriage of justice.
Guantanamo is a pox on a decent civil society as is Paris.
But I would think they are different in their nature.
Guantanamo(however wrongheaded it might be) is targeted towards ‘enemy combatants'(who, last I checked, are not
US citizens) while Paris is a US citizen. That categorization itself makes a difference in their treatment.
glass houses, i remeber it all dude! my favorite is when michael corleone is talking to his sister’s husband at the end of the movie before he kills him. i honestly don’t beleive michael knew which if any family hired the bro in law. he just bluffed it, until the bro in law confessed. (i’m actually embarrased for not knowing his name at the moment.)
tell me something, you like the third one right?
@Camille #57 : ” But the fact that this special treatment is towards Paris Hilton (who most of us hate because she is famous without any talents ) is the root cause of our frustration
No way. “
Are you saying that if Russel Peters got his sentence converted to house arrest for 40 days, you would be equally as pissed off ? At least I would be more forgiving towards comedians/actors of my fav shows(Lost,Heroes,Office) than a no-talent celebrity like Paris Hilton. I think this is merely human nature, to be more forgiving of people you like than people you dislike.
Ofcourse the law should view everyone as equal, and I do not contest that at all… I would still be angry at the preferential treatment to celebrities, but I would definitely not be as pissed off if it were our good ol’ Russel instead of Hilton.
Yes 🙂
Clueless, then her ass shoulda been in jail, too.
Aside: Am I missing a crucial link? I thought you could be classified as an enemy combatant AND be a U.S. citizen. Wasn’t this the legal question at issue re: Jose Padilla and John Walker Lind (sp?)? Although, until recently, at least officially being a non-citizen was not supposed to include a complete waiver of your entitlement to U.S. civil liberties while on U.S. soil. Whooo Zagvydis v. Davis.
“nervous breakdown” ??
Oh puhleez, it sounds more like she was throwing tantrums, this somehow makes me think of Li’l Kim didn’t she actually have to do all of the jail time ?
“This all thing with Ms.Hilton makes me feel better about India Justice system. The great thing about India, is that the biggest star of Bollywood are treated no better then some no-name dalit when comes going to jail for there crimes”
Well I don’t know so much about that.. Sanjay Dutt did jail time, never heard of Salman Khan doing the same even though he was clearly involved in a drunk-driving hit and run incident. You could say Dutt’s crime was bigger, however something makes me think that religion has still more to do with who gets special treatment.
Rich- yes White- NO!
I am tired of seeing us take hits on someone just becuse he/she is white. Thats plain stupid! It also shows a certain level of insecurity, I see that trend in almost all minorities,Asians, Blacks..everyone seems to have a limiting belief that the white folks are been given an unfair advantage. I’ve seen it more so prevelant amongst our desi women escpecially if you are seen with a slightly mor e attractive women from another race, there will be a snide remark on the lines of ” so our asses weren’t good enoough for you or what?” OK now I am going to get some hate mail but so be it 🙂
Bottom line is she got away because she is rich Period. I have to say theres a divide in the US of A, you’re rich you get treated differently and then there’s everyone else.
Lets say that you were in jail for the same reason Paris was (or any reason for that matter), and your lawyers figured out a way to get you out of jail early, be it 20 days or 20 minutes. I’d take it in a heartbeat and I defy anyone to tell me they would choose to stay in jail. Whether its right or wrong, her legal team served their client well.
If you really wanted to punish Paris, quit paying attention to her.
Not sure of the EXACT figure but from what I can remember, Sanjay Dutt already spent 20-21 months in jail regarding this case.
This really is despicable. What is wrong with this country?
Celebrities really are above the law. Especially rich, white celebrities.
A system is only as good as the people running it. Oh, sure, the founding fathers wanted to make sure the ship would still be sailing smooth even with “an unenlightened statesmen” at the helm. But my oh my, the past eight years have put that intention to the test. The system isn’t perfect (no system ever is), but when you’ve got a bunch of stooges running the show like we do now, those little imperfections widen and become chasms. And when you’ve got chasms in the system, rest assured the bottom half is going to fall in.
Anyway, here’s to hoping that she is returned to jail. (incidentally, Abhi, you forget to mention that her original sentence of 45 days was shortened to around 26 🙂 )
kannan, not true. There are huge RACIAL disparities in sentencing. While money is a factor as well, you cannot ignore the role of race. Perhaps this is less applicable when talking about celebrities, but it is certainly applicable to the rest of the population, be they (in)famous or not.
Yes,I am sure a millionaire personal injury trial lawyer like John Edwards who got rich chasing ambulances is real cut up about the state of American Society.
At the Asian Law Caucus’ annual dinner, Muneer Ahmad talked about his work with Guantanamo detainees. Then yesterday, my friend mentioned Paris Hilton’s release, and my brown sense started tingling, but I hadn’t put the two together until reading this. Good work.
this is largely so because judges have wide discretion in forming the sentence. sure, there are sentencing guidelines – but in most cases, these are not hard and fast rules, and the ‘facts and circumstances’ method that the law favours means that judges have wide latitude in fashioning a sentence that may be affected by both permissible and impermissible factors. i.e. as long as a judge gives a sufficiently valid legal reason for the sentence, it would be hard to show that some impermissible factor like race or wealth influenced the decision.
If by limiting you mean, correlating with the truth, then yes I agree
Heh, Heh…Which India are you talking about,this one? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1867912.ece
ak, while it is hard to PROVE that race/wealth affected sentencing, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t disparities, and that these disparities generally disadvantage lower-income people and people of color. There are a ton of factors at play – the latitude in sentencing, attitudes of juries, lack of funds and the reliance on pro bono service providers who may be overworked, etc., etc. There can be many causes, but the outcome remains.
camille, of course – that’s why i said ‘show.’ the reality is something different. but any decent lawyer or judge knows how to keep all of that off the record. and that’s usually why they will find at least one legally valid reason to go on record with – to uphold that there was, on the record, a permissible factor in the sentence created. as we are so very well taught in law school : no proof = no consequences.
i just read that the sheriff’s department is the one that converted her sentence from prison to house arrest. i honestly thought there was a judicial decision to this, but apprently there wasn’t. wtf? i don’t even know how it’s possible for a sheriff to have the jurisdiction to change a judicial decision. i hope somebody at the sheriff’s department gets their ass fired.
Amen, sista!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1905926.ece
The decision to allow her to complete her sentence in the comfort of her own home for “medical reasons†was met with outrage. Public denunciations flowed from the sheriff’s deputies union, members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, civil rights leaders, defence attorneys and, most crucially, from Judge Sauer himself, the judge who originally sentenced the hotel heiress to jail time.When he learned of the decision by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to release Hilton early, he demanded that she return to court, where she may be sent back to jail today
this is largely so because judges have wide discretion in forming the sentence. sure, there are sentencing guidelines – but in most cases, these are not hard and fast rules, and the ‘facts and circumstances’ method that the law favours means that judges have wide latitude in fashioning a sentence that may be affected by both permissible and impermissible factors
But with the federal sentencing guidelines, judges always seem to complain about how it deprives them of judicial discretion. A federal district court judge where I live even got into serious trouble for openly advocating the federal sentencing guidelines be tossed.
The sentencing guidelines in most states are a bit of a mess too, so although judges do have significant discretion at the state level, they are somewhat limited by the “mandatory minimum” sentences in most states.
Camille:
Reg: #67 : Aside: Am I missing a crucial link? I thought you could be classified as an enemy combatant AND be a U.S. citizen. Wasn’t this the legal question at issue re: Jose Padilla and John Walker Lind (sp?)?
–> My understanding is that enemy combatants are non-US citizens(these link refers to only inmates who are from
foreign countries – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/28/AR2007042801145_pf.html,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay_detainees).
Didnt US government have trouble with Padilla precisely because of that(combination of enemy combatant and US
citizen) ? When they thought that US supreme court would strike it down, they charged Padilla differently ? Plus
isnt Padilla being held at some naval brig and not Guantanamo Bay ?
So, we all agree there are 2 Americas. How about a draconian points-based system for immigration into America #1, and an anything goes policy for America #2? That way, Tancredo/Sensenbrenner are as happy as Kennedy/Boxer. Yes, I’ve solved that thorny issue in one fell swoop.
You are right, I don’t think there is anything precluding a U.S. citizen from being declared an “unlawful” enemy combatant. What cannot be done is strip U.S. citizens of habeas corpus. Whereas that’s ok for non-citizens under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (with some kangaroo system of appeal where many of these people are not even allowed to see the evidence against them). At least, that’s my understanding. Of course, the recent ruling by the military judge makes the unlawful designation look shaky, so maybe that system goes in the tank for a while too (while all the people in the system cool their heels in lovely Gitmo!).
Not exactly. OJ Simpson? 🙂 I think rich has most to do with it. White—maybe, but it is not so clear. Or maybe her attorney used the Chubaka defense? 😉
“If OJ was a bus driver, he wouldn’t even be OJ. He’d be Orinthal the bus driver murderer” – Chris Rock
But look, one or two instances of rich non-whites getting off, doesn’t take away white privilege in the criminal justice system. When Paris Hilton stands before a judge, he or she doesn’t think “Hmm, I’m gonna ignore the whiteness, and focus only on the rich part, yah, because of that, she can go free”
Money can buy you lawyers, of any color.
Yep, I believe her lawyer’s line was: If she’s a sleaze, you must release. And I guess it worked!
If she’s a skank, don’t send her to the tank? If she’s a ho, you must open the (jail) door?
Okay. I need to stop.Now
She’s sobbing —
http://www.dlisted.com/
@88 hmf:
well if you have tons of money but do not bleach yourself like michael jackson, you can still get off dui sentences. if you are white but poor, you still get into jail. so rich probably has more to do with it, isn’t it?
note that i am not saying there is no notion of white privilege—all i am saying is that in this case, i don’t think her whiteness is probably not the dominant reason she got away. in a sense hiltons are old money—they couldn’t have been that if they were not white. but that is indirect.
well, in OJ’s case, money bought lawyers, who bought a favourable jury
hema, yes, there are minimum sentencing guidelines, but i do think judges still have wide latitude. when i was working for a (federal) judge, it never seemed to be an issue at sentencing. here, for example, i don’t think jail was required – it seems that probation or house arrest or something to do with driving privileges would have sufficed. but i think something happened during the hearing to really piss off the judge.
Sure, but not at the disproportionate rate the non-whites who are poor get into jail. Ceteris Paribus. Money can buy you class privilege, but that can be yanked at any point.
How is that indirect? She did jack sht to earn the money she has, so all her money comes from coming out of a rich, white pssy, I don’t see how you can get more direct than that.
HMF, I’ve never told you this, but I LOVE your love of Chris Rock. Seriously spices up so many posts.
Thanks Rahul and Krishnan, I think my understanding was similar, but I wasn’t really clear (in my own head) about how I got there.
it seems that probation or house arrest or something to do with driving privileges would have sufficed. but i think something happened during the hearing to really piss off the judge.
Heh. One of my law professors would repeatedly say “whatever you do, don’t annoy the decision-maker.” Judges do get pissed off pretty easily. The judge I worked for was pretty laid back most of the time, but a few things could really set him off…like cell phones.
see it this way—if you want the perks she has got, getting rich than bleaching yourself is the smarter way to go.
see, i have never said there is no notion of white privilege. so i am not contesting this:
but money is an equalizer of sorts. and that what you can infer from her case is that money can buy you quite a bit. in any case, i hate paris hilton. so far be it from me trying to defend her in any way.
true if you are pitted against someone with money and is white, you are screwed. there was never any hope in that situation to begin with.
It makes sense, since capitalism is spreading, and under that system money=power.
Money is power in any system – capitalist or otherwise. At least with free-market capitalism, you have the chance of getting some money & power. You think Castro has no money?
Paris Hilton Ordered Back to Jail