THREE-TIERED JUSTICE, NOT EQUAL JUSTICE

‘Equal Justice’ is a term that has been ingrained in our minds since we were little school kids. But the truth is that equal justice is a bad joke! What we have in this country is a three-tiered justice system - one for the ‘have-nots’, one for the ‘haves’ and one for celebrities. The have-nots cannot afford legal representation. The haves can afford the best attorneys and expert witnesses that money can buy. The celebrities are haves who are given special consideration not given to the other haves.
　
What is really galling is the special treatment afforded celebrities. The latest case involves the quickie-release of Paris Hilton following her cocaine possession arrest in Las Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Hilton was released from jail within three hours, about half the average time it takes for the other haves to be processed through the Clark County Detention Center on the same charge. (The have-nots would remain jailed because they wouldn’t be able to afford the bail.)
　
According to the police, Hilton’s quickie-release was pushed through the booking process in order to get her into a separate room, thus relieving the jailers from having to keep the other inmates away from her. What a crock of shit! That’s the same lame excuse for keeping Linsay Lohan in special quarters during her shortened jail term recently. Do the authorities really believe that Hilton and Lohan were in danger of being raped by the other women inmates? Of course not! The other inmates would slobber all over themselves to get Hilton’s and Lohan’s autographs.
　
This is not the first time Paris has been the beneficiary of special treatment by jail authorities. Lee ‘Pepe Lepew’ Baca, LA’s sheriff to the falling stars – Mel Gibson, Hilton, Lohan and others – is best known for the special consideration his department metes out to Hollywood Luminaries. Back in 2007 when, after getting caught driving with a suspended license three times while on probation following a drunk driving arrest, Paris Hilton was finally sentenced to serve 45 days in jail. Not so fast – Pepe Lepew had Paris released after only 72 hours of confinement. And after the judge ordered him to take her back into custody, Hilton’s wealthy family members were given special visiting privileges.

As for separating celebrities form the ‘little people’ in jail, that and releasing them early is exactly the opposite of what should be done. Those pampered Hollywood luminaries feel that they’re above the law. They continually thumb their noses at the criminal justice system because they’ve come to expect the special consideration they’ve always been given. The Gibsons, Hiltons and Lohans are badly in need of some attitude adjustment, but that won’t come about until they are treated exactly the same as the little people.
　
Speaking of Pepe Lepew, the special favors Baca has given close buddy Mel Gibson may have come back to bite him in the ass. The deputy who arrested Gibson in 2006 for drunk driving sued the LASO on Tuesday, alleging that it retaliated against him because he resisted requests from superiors to remove the actor's anti-Semitic slurs from the initial arrest report.
　
As for the have-nots, there is no doubt that some of them are really getting fucked. But I’m not shedding any tears because most of them committed the crimes for which they are charged. By keeping them in jail when they can’t make bail, they are prevented from preying on the public as many of them do while out on bail.
　
So, isn’t it about time that we stop all this bullshit about equal justice? Let’s recognize the criminal justice system for what it is – a three-tiered system that favors the haves over the have-nots. That’s unequal justice any way you look at it.