Laws must be applied equally to all!

granted, there has always been unfair application of law all through history, i know that. whether it was the politicians or the rich or the famous, they have always got a little better treatment for when they have broken the law. how ever, with today's technology, we hear about things almost instantly when they happen. now, personally, i am very liberal, but with a small conservative streak when it comes to the law and criminals. and it it is not for me to tell another person what they can and can not put in their bodies. but until the day that happens, the law must be applied to ALL! EQUALLY!! how in hell can paris hilton get a MISDEMEANOR for coc aine and not even get any jail time! i am a 42 year old white man, middle class. no way in hell could i get that deal from a district attorney! an african or hispanic man would have it a lot worse! this is bull! no tea partier by any stretch, but when i hear stuff like this, it really makes me feel like them that the system is broken!

A good example over here at the moment is the singer George Michael has been sent to 8 weeks in jail for crashing his car into a building when he was smacked up on cannabis.

Now imagine if regular Joe did the same kind of thing....do you think they'd get just 8 weeks? Consider also that this is George Michael's second offense for cannabis.

He's now been moved to an open prison. Basicall he's getting special treatment because he's famous.

Lindsay Lohan also a case in point as well as Paris Hilton as you already mentioned.

Money talks I suppose.

George Michael Moved To Category C Prison

In the USA "all men are created equal"

in France, whose constitution was also written with input from Jefferson and others, but after the experience of doing ours, it states:

"All men are equal under the law"

Consider that an individual can be basically chewed up and spit out of the american judicial system as so much wreckage (IF he escapes GITMO under the p.a.t.r.i.o.t. act) when faced off against a billion dollar corporation.

I grow more fond of that line of the French Constitution each day.

The French have even been able to pass an "anti-mental manipulation law" and held that a well known american celebrity cult is in fact a FRAUD, even while that same cult is considered a "Charitable non-profit" by the IRS.

Good Day

It's funny how ATS pisses and moans when a celebrity gets a break, but when the police themselves violate their oaths, beat old people, taze the handicapped it's all good. I agree the laws need to be applied to ALL people equally, but that includes the enforcers of those laws as well. As long as society will accept exception to any person, then we will continue to see favoritism to those few considered "special".

On a side note...

Really, the USA's stance on cannabis is beyond inane. It's about time that the cotton companies compete with hemp on their own merit. The whole disinformation campaign on cannabis has really gone on long enough. The number of people imprisoned in the USA for simply possessing cannabis is just insane. When you consider how much of your taxes go to housing and feeding people for simply having and smoking some weed, it's no wonder that the USA has brought itself to the brink of the abyss.

So to keep this on track, laws, should be applied to ALL people. No exception for race, creed, color or JOB should be afforded. If this were the case, you would probably see more sane laws.

..Ex

Originally posted by v3_exceed
So to keep this on track, laws, should be applied to ALL people. No exception for race, creed, color or JOB should be afforded. If this were the case, you would probably see more sane laws.
..Ex

Twas ever thus:

“Laws are like spiders' webs which, if anything small falls into them they ensnare it, but large things break through and escape”

(Solon 630?-560? BC Greece)

reply to post by blackthorne


How many laws are there in the United States?

How many laws are there in the United States?

How many laws are there in the United States?

How many mandatory expectations (laws) does one have to conform to in order to enjoy freedom in the United States of America?

If we took all the Supreme Court Justices and all members of Congress and locked them up in a nice plush hotel room with everything they needed, and did not let them out until they wrote down from memory all the laws word for word, would they get out before they all died?

yet, every child born today is expected to conform to these expectations placed upon them by society.

free will? freedom?

How many laws are there?

some of my thoughts on this issue,
et

my point is that this woman is going virtually non punished for a crime that an average person would be slammed for. this is a travesty of justice. i don't have it out for her either. i just want to see all people treated the same under the law.

as to your post. i may not agree with drug laws even though i do not indulge. never have. but for the time, coc aine is illegal. EVERY ONE knows this. this is not jay walking. paris hilton sure as hell knows that coc aine is illegal. her trying to say that it was not hers demonstrates that she knew. no excuse for this one.

reply to post by blackthorne


You didn't list a source for this thread so there's not much to go on, but here in the US most simple possession offenses are treated as a misdemeanor, at least where I live. Jail/prison time doesn't kick in until large amounts or trafficking is involved.

Just my $.02

Edit to add: You are correct though, there is a huge double standard when it comes to enforcing laws. I totally disagree with it, but I'm not really sure what there is to do about it.

reply to post by blackthorne


Can you say "MONEY", come one its simple math, she can afford to overwhelm the legal system. Its all about who can afford it and who can't. the law is only blind to money.

I think this is something of a misconception about how the Law works here in the States. There is a reason Lady Justice has a blindfold on and is holding scales and a sword. Justice is what happens in the end, and not the begining.

As far as the Paris Hilton goes, and before people go nuts on Law Enforcement, the Prosecuting Attoenry is the one who made this deal. Is it possible to be arrested for a felony and have it reduced to a misdameanor? Sure is, as I have seen i thappen before. In most crimes there is something called a lesser included offense. An example of this would be if someone broke into an unoccupied house. At the worst, they are suspect of 2nd Burglary while at the low end they are suspect of tresspassing.

I think there is a misconcpetion though about who can get away with what. When celebrities end up being arrested for something, it makes the news due to their public stature. What doesnt make the news are the 10k other people who commit the same crime and also get a lesser charge as part of a plea deal.

Our legal system here in the US has approximately 90% +/- of its case loads dealt with through a plea bargain. If this did not happen, you can kiss goodybye the concept of a speedy trial because it will take nluiple years to get it before a judge.

If anything I would say celevrities sometimes get a wrose sentence than what a normal person would based soley on their public stature. Sometimes making an example out of a celebrity goes farther to act as a deterant to others becuase of the publicity it gets. I am not saying I agree with this, but its there.

Other things to take into context:
Where was her purse located at in the vehicle?
Was it within reach of other people in the vehicle?
Were other drugs located on anyone else or in the vehicle?
Did anyone in the vehicle lay claim to the drugs?
When the purse was removed from the vehicle, was it in someones custody the entire time?
If not, who had the purse?

The reason I post this is there are a lot of variables that go into criminal cases that are explored in court.

Law Enforcement does their part by doing as thourough of an investigation as they can. They ask questions, collect evidence, and attempt to wrap up all loose ends / eventualities.They submit their report to the PA's office wo reviews the case and decide if the evidence collected can support the charges.

If the PA decides their is enough evidence they will proceeed with it, with a plea deal suggested by either defense or PA's office. If neither side agree it can go to a jury trial or bench trial (judge). If the PA gets the report and decides certain parts of the investigation are on shaky grounds, they may opt to reduce the charges to something different (lesser most of the time) that still fits as a crime, but better able to make a case.

Trying to draw a paralell between a felony drug and marijuana possession is hard to do. Marijuana is the only controlled substance in this country that has both a felony and misdameanor charge (less than 35g). Every other controlled substance will be a felony charge no matter how much or how little of its in posession.

The law of probability in this country dictates that the non celevrities will commit a crime than celebrities based soley on the number of people vs the number of celebrities there are. The chances the celebrities incident will be on tv is higher because of who they are.

I dont think its preferential treatment at all.. I just think it appears that way because it makes the news and other incidents involving every day people dont.

just my 2 cents.

Originally posted by thov420
reply to post by blackthorne

 

You didn't list a source for this thread so there's not much to go on, but here in the US most simple possession offenses are treated as a misdemeanor, at least where I live. Jail/prison time doesn't kick in until large amounts or trafficking is involved.

Just my $.02

Edit to add: You are correct though, there is a huge double standard when it comes to enforcing laws. I totally disagree with it, but I'm not really sure what there is to do about it.

edit on 9/18/10 by thov420 because: addition

Only marijuana is a misdameanor charge, and only if its 35g or less. Anything larger than 35g, or posession of any other type of controlled substance is actually a felony in the States.

Also, people need to understand Justice is blind.. Its not perfect.