Los Angeles, CA—Sometimes celebrities fail and wind up charged with a crime. Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton are some examples. There are others like Kelsey Grammer and Hugh Grant that have posed for the police booking camera for minor events that have proved to be major personal embarrassments. The judges are quick to admonish the stars that they are not special and will suffer like anyone else. That always proves to be a big lie. Celebrities suffer so much more than the lesser known defendants before the bar of justice.
First and foremost, is the massive publicity surrounding any arrest of anyone famous. The paparazzi cameras assemble like flies on manure at the police stations and courthouses for a perp-walk or any glimpse of the hapless fallen star. Dealing with that kind of excessive humiliation has to take its toll on anyone.
The judges find community service options for the celebrities like the rest of us. In reality that’s cruel and unusual punishment since the celebrities are forced to mingle with ordinary offenders and are forced to suffer lots of unwanted attention from them. Community service usually consists of menial duties such as garbage picking along roads and cleaning government structures.
Paparazzi photographers are paid handsomely for pictures of celebrities in degrading or other photos and video of them being punished.
Because criminal defendants usually come from the lowest rung of society they have few skills that can be utilized. They are also considered untrustworthy and prone to committing crimes during their court ordered activities.
Community service means just that. It makes much more sense to take the extra step and match the defendant to the service by virtue of their skills and beneficial impact on the community.
Lindsay Lohan for example should be doing PSA’s or entertaining returning disabled veterans, special needs children or something else of value. That would be legitimate work with zero financial return for the celebrity.
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