Great story, Nicole. I'm glad dug an interesting nugget out of the Paris mess.
I had never heard from the sheriff or considered any justification for releasing paris (beyond her "illness") until now. When you frame the story with the lack of adequate housing and the poor living conditions in jails, Baca's decision doesn't seem so wrongheaded. Overcrowding has apparently led the sheriff to release more than 200,000 inmates early over the last five years, "including some who ended up committing murders and other serious crimes when they otherwise would have been behind bars." Hey, it's better to let Paris Hilton serve her sentence out at home than have her taking up someone's spot who goes out and kills someone.
But I'm not convinced. Many Americans, especially less privileged ones, lack faith in the criminal justice system and believe it's biased towards the rich and famous. Whether that's true or not (I happen to think it is; my guess is superduperficial can provide the other side) it's certainly not a healthy perception for the public to have. Releasing a multi-millionaire after serving what was essentially a day where someone else might serve nearly a month then having the story dominate the news can't be good for changing that mindset.
I think we mostly agree the rich and famous shouldn't be automatically given "get out of jail free" cards. But on a practical level, there is some support for selling them "get out of jail free" cards. Link
It's the abovementioned problem of what such a system does to the public's faith in our justice system that keeps me wanting to see Paris behind bars.
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Something that actually matters about the Paris Hilton story.
I'm proud to say this is the only article I've decided to read about her and the situation thus far.Link
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I had never heard from the sheriff or considered any justification for releasing paris (beyond her "illness") until now. When you frame the story with the lack of adequate housing and the poor living conditions in jails, Baca's decision doesn't seem so wrongheaded. Overcrowding has apparently led the sheriff to release more than 200,000 inmates early over the last five years, "including some who ended up committing murders and other serious crimes when they otherwise would have been behind bars." Hey, it's better to let Paris Hilton serve her sentence out at home than have her taking up someone's spot who goes out and kills someone.
But I'm not convinced. Many Americans, especially less privileged ones, lack faith in the criminal justice system and believe it's biased towards the rich and famous. Whether that's true or not (I happen to think it is; my guess is superduperficial can provide the other side) it's certainly not a healthy perception for the public to have. Releasing a multi-millionaire after serving what was essentially a day where someone else might serve nearly a month then having the story dominate the news can't be good for changing that mindset.
I think we mostly agree the rich and famous shouldn't be automatically given "get out of jail free" cards. But on a practical level, there is some support for selling them "get out of jail free" cards. Link
It's the abovementioned problem of what such a system does to the public's faith in our justice system that keeps me wanting to see Paris behind bars.