Why am I siding with the half-baked celebrity? I’m not. I just think we have more important criminals to keep locked up than this foolish child. Jail is a waste of time on her. Anyone 20+ years old who cries for their mother in a public place isn’t going to learn squat in a jail except the latest method for inmates to get into the infirmary. I say, make room for the rapists, drug dealers, baby-snatchers, and stealing politicians and let Paris go free. Yes, I wrote it-her butt should go FREE.
Anybody who still thinks that incarceration teaches anyone a lesson, particularly trust fund babies with fast cars and designer drugs or actors who believe their life (and their careers) will never end, should recall the number of times Robert Downey has been convicted for a DUI/drug possession case. Anybody who thinks that incarceration rehabilitates or gives someone time to think about what they did (like some long “time out”) should examine this country’s recidivism rate which still hovers in the upper 60% range. We lock up more folks in the U.S. than any industrialized country. Then, they come out just as irresponsible, stupid and socially uncaring as they did when they went in and some come out worse. Most law enforcement and criminologists will say that if the person has a supportive home, a career, and a skill to work with when they return, that person is less likely to be a repeat offender. That’s bull. Rich people just don’t go in the first place or if they do, they get a better lawyer for the next time. It’s the foolish and the poor who keep the revolving doors of our American criminal justice system going round and round at 100 mph. It isn’t like either group “learns” anything from the experience and few genuinely regret what they have done and go on to continue to make restitution.
And that leads me to something. What about those who experience and act upon genuine regret? What is different about them? I don’t think it is a support system (some of the addicts I work with have extensive, loving support systems filled with other addicts and dealers!) or skills (you can use an MBA to run a Fortune 500 company or billion dollar drug cartel!). I think it comes from someone deciding to take themselves and the lives of others seriously. It comes from a genuine appreciation that you don’t get something for nothing in this life and seeing yourself as part of a larger community-something beyond yourself. You see, what is similar between Paris Hilton and the addicts I work with is that neither has grown up. Both want that fast life and all the excitement that comes with it. Real grown ups recognize that excitement is for children and the real joy is found in the slow, small things. Real grown ups don’t need a thrill a minute while addicts do. Real grown ups realize that Peter Pan was a sad, pitiful creature who was really missing out on a lot while trying to escape rules and responsibilities
So what do we do with these grown ups who really don’t want to grow up? The British had Australia and space movies always had penal colonies on some distant planet. Unfortunately, Australia is a real country now (this Peter Pan stuff must not be hereditary) and the space shuttle is a piece of junk that looses pieces of itself every time NASA shoots it into the sky. Instead, I suggest we use global warming to our advantage. Those areas of our land that are increasingly becoming uninhabitable because of drought or whatever can house these Peter Pans. If you are clever and single minded enough to make it back to “civilization”, fine, you can return to our fold. I figure that if you have enough wherewithal to develop a long term plan and execute it, you are partially on your way to adulthood already. Imagine, Paris emerging from the desert-no more hair extensions, make-up, flashy/trashy clothes, or goofy smile. Geeze, she may come back looking human.
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