The Double Standard Of American Justice

There are two kinds of justice in the United States. There is the soft justice for the rich and powerful, and the harsh justice for the rest of us.

A good example of this was shown to us a few days ago, when Scooter Libby was given 30 months in prison, and then allowed to go home while the judge decided whether to let him remain free while his appeals are being heard. No poor or working-class person would have been afforded this opportunity.

Today, we saw another example of this soft justice for the rich and famous. A California judge (What was he thinking?) had finally sent Paris Hilton to jail after she blew several opportunities at serving probation. But yesterday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department stepped up and made sure she wouldn't really have to serve that sentence.

They released her from jail after serving less than 5 days of her sentence for "medical" reasons, and sent her to do the remaining time under house...uh, make that mansion arrest. It seems she's been crying uncontrollably and refusing to eat the jail food. Sounds more like a rich person throwing a tantrum than a medical problem.

You can bet a poor person would not be released on such flimsy medical grounds. Frankly, it's hard to talk about the fairness of our justice system while such inequities exist.