Celebrity Justice
Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton, Tiger Woods, Nicholas Cage - the list of celebrities who have been arrested or charged with a crime is a long one. Drug possession, lying to investigators, driving while intoxicated, shoplifting - the list of offenses is also a long one. When arrested, are celebrities held to the same standards of justice as the rest of us, or do they receive special treatment in the legal system? If convicted how, do their sentences compare to those of a majority of those in our justice system?
In this paper, I argue that celebrity status does give a defendant a number of major advantages, the most important being that they can hire the kind of legal representation that the average person
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Perhaps for this reason when rich, mostly light skinned female stars are arrested, their treatment is held up for special scrutiny.
Typical of this complaint is an unsigned online “Judiciary Report” (August 2007) that discusses the light treatment for vehicular and drug or alcohol incidents involving Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears. The author complains of these, “… public menaces (are) loose on the streets, behind the wheel, on the road where law-abiding citizens drive” and accurately notes that their behavior could result in serious injury or even death (Judiciary Report). It could be added that little publicity accompanies poor minority men arrested for similar charges. Writing in the Journal of Moral Philosophy, Geoffrey Scarre (2006) notes that “courts of criminal jurisdiction commonly allow for mitigating circumstances when
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determining the punishment of convicted wrongdoers.” The concept of mitigation means that not everyone will be punished in identical fashion for a particular crime. Judges and juries weigh factors such as remorse, medical conditions or the person’s past reputation or actions in determining punishment (Scarre 305-307). The perception of the public, however, is that, in general, wealthy stars are not punished to the same level as everyone else. While “The Judiciary
According to Webster dictionary, a celebrity is defined as a famous or celebrated person. Celebrities serves as role models, heroes, cultural commentators, charity spokespeople, and political candidates. An exploration of celebrity culture uncovers changing conceptions of legitimacy, authority, and credibility at play in our culture (The Hedgehog Review, 2005) .There is a celebrity culture that has engulfed Canada, and indeed North America for a while now because celebrity culture is alluring, even to those who are embarrassed to admit it. There has been increasing infiltration of celebrity culture into politics. The media might have deliberately and unwittingly contributed in perpetuating this celebrity culture.
The Justice system seeks to prevent crimes and to capture those who have committed crimes. But what are the causes of crime, maybe poverty, or greed, or is sometimes caused by the system. Is the risk worth the reward and is reward the worth risking the punishment? Power and influence is threaded deeply into the Criminal Justice System. Are all offenders caught and processed with the same demeanor and given the same punishment? The system needs to be impartial to all offenders regardless of the offender’s social position, job or yearly income. The general punishment for most crimes is incarceration in most states with a difference in duration to adjust per each crime. This is the deterrent against crime. This is what should be keeping
Everyone in life makes mistake, it’s part of life and we learn off them. Yes professional get away with crime and its wrong, I believe that whoever you are, rich, poor, famous, a professional athlete or just a normal person, if you commit a crime or break the law you need to face the consequences for your actions. We have laws
assistance of council, and procedural bars, venue, and jury selection, as well as potential racism by jurors. According to ( Tabak, 1999) “these reasons apply in cases in which the death penalty may be sought.” When illustrating the use of prosecutorial discretion two crime types that can be
The book "The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison" by Jeffrey H. Reiman provides a very interesting account of how the rich are being treated by the criminal justice system in a more favorable than the poorer and nonviolent criminals who are generally mistreated. Reiman started his book by stating that the recently noted decline in crime rate is skewed. This is clear in the 12th page of his book when he stated that After more than 20 years of telling us that crime was growing out of control and proposing more cops and tougher laws and more prisons, crime rates are now coming down and politicians are jumping to claim credit for the reductions" (Reiman ,p. 12).The book is a well written text that effectively examines the various harmful acts that are committed by the rich in our society. These harmful acts include bribery, medical crimes, and embezzlement of public funds, crime against consumers as well as environmental crimes such as unsafe workplaces as well as pollution among many others. Reiman's book, in its thorough analysis of the various harmful acts noted that there is a particular bias against the poor people within the American criminal justice system.He demonstrated that acts like murder, assault and theft that are committed by the poor people are treated by the criminal justice system as very serious crimes while on the other hand, other harmful acts like bribery, medical crimes, embezzlement of public funds, crime against consumers as well as
Also, seemingly people are actually lowering their (the figures) standards. To illustrate that, according to the article “7 Celebrities Who Should Have Gone To Jail” paragraph 1, Alec Baldwin, a celebrity, was arrested for a bike accident. Apparently, he told the police department, however, “Do you know who I am?” The police, continued, however, and soon they arrived in court of law. However, the judge in
* The extent to which the law balances the rights of victims, offenders and society
I never realized how money affects the level of justice people receive. As perfectly exemplified through the OJ Simpson, the richer a person is, the better chance they have at getting the verdict they desire. Although not all for hire defense lawyers are better than public defenders, but good defense lawyers are able to charge so much money because they are extremely good at their job and help get their client acquitted. In any other circumstance other than OJ Simpson, a black male accused of double homicide would never have been able to get acquitted. OJ could afford a legal team made up of experts and his legal team costed him $50,000 a day, more than some people make in a whole year. If he wasn’t rich, he would currently be in jail and there for the rest of his life. This is true most cases; money, which gets someone a better lawyer, gives them a better chance at a better sentence. To me, this says that having money and being rich means the law works more in their favor, or is able to argue better in their favor, and that is a fundamental error in our justice system.
The OJ Simpson case has been hailed "The Trial of the Century." One of the longest running court trials in history, this case was filled with conspiracy, controversy, and the power of celebrity. The biggest part of the trial was the evidence. The submission of the blood samples, the DNA testing, and the articles of clothing made the case what it was. Amidst all the accusations of planted evidence and conspiracy plans against Simpson, the jury and Judge Ito had to try to sift through and find Simpson guilty or not guilty.
The term justice is used in some of America's most treasured and valued documents, from the Pledge of Allegiance, to the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. Everyone wants to be treated justly whether it's in the courtroom or the local bar. Most people would feel confident giving a definition for justice, but would it be a definition we could universally agree to? Given that justice is a very common term, and something we all want, it's important to have a precise definition. For hundreds of years philosophers have argued, debated, and fought over this topic. Justice can clearly be defined as the intention to conform to truth and fairness. This is true justice.
Should celebrities that break the law face stricter penalties? Celebrities who break the law does not face penalties the way they should be served. They get special treatment and why is that? They are humans just like us,and they don't deserve to be treated better than us non famous people. Who cares that they are rich and famous? They still are breaking the law. They break the law like any other person. Just because you are rich and famous doesn't mean break all laws.
Have you ever wondered what influences us to behave the way we do? Look a certain way? Or even looked for an explanation to what causes us to apply a certain perspective regarding personal and controversial issues? One of the answers to these questions may revolve around the influence we absorb from celebrities. A definitive term for celebrity is an iconic figure to a category or group who has achieved success in one or multiple aspects of their lives. As a result, these individuals have drawn in publicity and fame. Over the years with the advances in media and other forms of communication, celebrities have become topics of discussion worldwide, rather if it’s at school, with colleagues or at the dinner table, it is fair to say that
People were not exposed to barrage of news about celebrities a couple of decades ago. Mass media is becoming more garden because of rapid progress on technology day by day. Thereby, people are substantially interested in the private life of celebrities, and some of them are obsessed with celebrities. They desire to know everything about them. For instance, who is dating with whom, where they are shopping, or what they wear. In a word public have an endless hunger for more information. However, the public doesn't have the right to know about every single detail of celebrities' private lives due to several reasons.
The downside of fame is the interference of the media in one’s life. Stories concerning celebrities are likely to attract customers, just for entertainment purposes. Celebrities’ life is publicized, criticized and mocked at. Reporting celebrities downfall seems to be particularly appealing to the public, and it seems that hardly a day passes without the news reporting a celebrity’s’ downfall. Some people are obsessed with famous people, their life styles, and have desire for more information. Media’s negative role destroys the famous people’s lives. Famous people deserve privacy and respect. This essay will discuss the unfair treatment received by famous people from the media.
In today’s society we see all kinds of unfair cases coming in and out if the courtroom. People who have enough money to go hire a top of the line lawyer to protect them from being accounted guilty. All the while in the poor community people struggle to survive just to pay their rent, and when they commit a crime it’s hard for them to afford a top of the line lawyers. Every day you turn on the TV or the radio and hear about these celebrities that constantly get in trouble for drugs, guns, and fighting but yet when the judge sentences them it’s like they get a smack on the hand or receive the minimum sentence available. This even happens in a