This past week, we started talking about OJ Simpson and his famous murder trial. It got me thinking about other celebrity charges and trials, and whether these trials are any different from a normal civilian going through the same thing. Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly, and Felicity Huffman are among some of the more recent celebrity trials.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/02/woody-allens-advantage-how-the-law-protects-celebs-accused-of-abuse/283595/
After reading the following article, I've come to the conclusion that the law heavily favors celebrities and other wealthy members of society. This is something that I knew before, but have only really started giving serious thought to as of late. According to this article, even with all of the charges and evidence against R. Kelly, it took 6 years for the case to go to trial, and when it did, he was acquitted. Even though celebrities like Cosby have had to face consequences, the majority of celebrities have gotten off with minimal punishment. Huffman was sentenced to only 14 days in prison and was released after 11 days. Even with the numerous pieces of evidence and testimonials against her, she served less than 2 weeks in prison. There are so many parts of American society that favor the rich, upper class and having the judicial system favor those in a position of fame and wealth is just another. In what way do you think we can change this?
I think this is a really interesting issue to think about, and one specifically that doesn't really have a very easy or evident solution. I think that since celebrities are such prominent figures in people's lives, it becomes exceedingly difficult for juries to remain impartial and unbiased like they are supposed to. Since this key element of due process is largely impacted by the popular status of celebrities, I think this contributes a lot to the issue of celebrities essentially "getting off easy" for their misdemeanors. I'm not exactly sure what could be done to address this problem, but I think a major first step is recognizing that this happens and discussing the causes so we can better understand potential avenues for change.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this might be something that takes time to change, especially because people have different interests for letting a person off the hook, especially if they are famous. For example, a coach of a football player who murdered someone else might let him off the hook if he is an integral part of the team and there is not way that the team can function without them. Other motives are more money related, like R. Kelly paying off the families of the women that he was involved with, or even a biased jury. Because people favor the rich among others, this attitude of "preserving" the rich is not something that can go away instantly. I think that it's hard for judges to be impartial because they are human too, but the laws shouldn't necessarily favor someone over another because of their socioeconomic background. That's why I think this is something that is hard to change, because people can always hide behind their money. But I do think that this has to start with the youth because as the status quo, nothing is being done to change this.
ReplyDeleteYes I feel like often rich and famous people are given more leniency. But I think that this could also be because of other factors, such as their race and the crime. For example Huffman is a white woman, and often woman and white people get lesser sentences. Also cases of sexual misconduct, with Cosby, Kelly, and Weinstein, are often not able to convict people. Victims most of the time do not report because of the shame and because of the fact that they're lives might be destroyed due to people thinking that they are lying. This is also probably amplified with celebrities since they have so much power and favor in the public eye. People have to risk their livelihoods in order to even try to convict them for what they did. And often these cases are sloppily handled so that it is hard to make a conviction. Overall I do believe that celebrities do have power to get lesser sentences or no conviction at all, but this is compounded by other factors that benefit them.
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