What are you talking about? Paris is MUCH more important than Cold War II. Like, duh!

You know, when you do BAD things, don't be surprised when BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO YOU. I have no sympathy for Ms. Hilton. After being stopped while driving erratically and being charged with impaired driving, she pled no contest to a count of reckless driving and was sentenced to a number of things including alcohol counselling and lost her license to drive. She was stopped AGAIN while driving with a suspended license. She was caught a SECOND time (who knows how many times she continued to drive between her first and second stops), which landed her in the predicament that she is in. I think the sentence she received reflects her flouting of the law. Period. She felt, clearly, that when she broke the law and pled no contest (which is in effect a guilty plea), she didn't have to abide by the justice system and complete the terms of her sentence. She got caught. She got put in jail for this attitude. So no tears for Paris. Let's be glad that she didn't get smashed again and actually kill someone while out there doing whatever the heck she felt like due to her sense of entitlement.
Hey, don't forget that her bad behavior sure has paid off for her - full-time publicity, around-the-clock coverage - I predict that within 2 weeks of her release, she will be on the talk circuit flogging a book that she has "written" and will be back on the club scene, panty-less and drinking and doing who knows what else, all in the very public view of the cameras...

Paris Hilton was ordered back to jail to serve the remainder of her sentence. Her attorney is so fired!

Judges have quite a bit of discretion when it comes to sentencing, so within that discretion, whatever Paris gets, is "fair" in my opinion. However, that doesn't change the fact that her sentence was probably fairly stiff, in that it is very common for most people including nonfamous people of all income levels often see their second or third DUI (including multiple violations for driving on suspended license or not following through on terms of their probation) before they see ever see jail time unless they tick off the judge. Which, in reading between the lines, Paris apparently did.

My point is why on earth does anyone care one way or another? Why is this news? Why does anyone care whether her sentence is unusually harsh or unusually lenient, when they don't care one way or the other with the "average Joe DUI" (which are in your local newspapers, if not the local news)? Even as a probation officer, I was very limited in my ability to enforce the terms of probations, even for felony aggravated battery, theft, and robbery and child sexual abuse. I've never seen anyone in as much of an uproar over the sentencing of these criminals (not so much as a letter to the editor) as whether or how Paris Hilton serves her sentence for a misdemeanor.

Huge advances in the criminal justice system could be made, it there there were half as much uproar (heck 1/10) every time a lenient sentence was reported for child abuse, spousal abuse, and other violent offenses, instead of whether or not Paris is in jail. I don't care whether she got the maximum sentence, the minimum sentence or anything in between. In the scheme of things Paris is a gnat on the criminal justice system, why does everyone seem more concerned about the gnat than the vultures?

There was quite an interesting article in the LA Times today about this.

I guess the judges are mad and the sheriffs and are using Paris as a high-profile example to get their point across. Here it is in a nutshell:

The judge hands down the sentence--the person goes to jail--the jail is overcrowded--the sheriff sends the person home early.

The judges are mad because the sentence is not being served. This one judge has decided to use Paris as a pawn (not that I really care) to make his point against the sheriffs department and their policy of early release. Although IMO it won't help because there is no money to make the jails bigger.

Cartoons, anyone?

http://www.cagle.com/news/ParisInPrison/main.asp

I do care a great deal about DUIs both in my state and other places.

I care that over a decade ago a mother and her three daughters were slaughtered on Christmas Eve by drunk (Gordon House) who drove the wrong way on the freeway. Their father has to cope everyday with that loss.

I care that this past Fall, a family was driving home from a soccer tournament and was slaughtered by a drunk who got wasted on a plane, bought more alcohol and then chose to drive. He killed the parents and two sisters. The sister who survived has to figure out how to live without her family.

I care that every week some A$$%((^ is reported in the local news as being picked up for their third, sixth, eighth, twentieth DUI.

I care that there is a jerk at my hospital who admits to driving drunk and thinks it is no big deal.

I care about this story, not because of I give a rat's behind about Paris Hilton, but because it shows what a JOKE DUI sentencing is. There is no deterrent with sentences like this.

I believe that if someone drives drunk and kills someone, they should be charged with premeditated murder. I think the first offense should land a person in prison for 6 months, a second offense for a few years.

People who drive drunk risk the life of every man, woman and child on the road. That could be MY family.

I have a lot of patience for a lot of things, and I do work to fight domestic violence But DUI pushes my buttons in a huge way. As long as the offenders see their punishments as a joke, there is no reason to stop.

I do have to hand it to my lawmakers here. First-time (caught) offenders have to have an interlock. There are ways around it, but our lawmakers are finally paying attention. Maybe our judges will start to pay attention, too.

midwife, my sentiments exactly. I do care. I don't care anything for ms. hilton, but I do care about drunk driving.

Last week on Oprah was a family that had lost their 7 yr. old daughter(and the limo driveer) due to their limo being hit by a drunk driver on the way home from a wedding. The mom sat on the side of the road for an hr. holding her daughter's severed head while the crews tried to extract the rest of the family from the mangled car. I called my 21 yr. old son to the living room and had him watch this with me. It was heart-wrenching and I hope it made as big of an impact on him as it did on me. Anytime he goes partying with his buddies, they pitch in on the cost of a cab to drive them home. (Yes, I've had to take him back to the club the next morning to get his car, but I'm fine with that).

This was my point exactly. An individual caught while driving impaired, who pleads no contest (treated as a guilty plea) to reckless driving while under the influence, decides not to abide by the sentence handed down, gets caught twice flouting the court's decision, and cries all the way to jail.
Boo hoo.
Drunk/impaired driving is outrageous behaviour. Period. She had her chance to mend her ways and she blew it. I have no sympathy for impaired drivers. These people put all of us at risk. If she can't handle the jail time, she shouldn't have done the crime. Period.

midwife and lilybelle, you both said it so well.

I lost a boyfriend in HS to a drunk driver. A friend's 19 yr old daughter was hit at about 3:30 in the afternoon. She was riding her bike home from school and this guy came around the corner and knocked her I don't know how many feet into the air. She lingered for almost a week.

He was killed in the 60s, she in the 70s. The first one was in FLA and the guy got a fine. A fine! The second one was in CALIF. Calif was starting to crack down on these people in the 70s. The fact that she died resulted in a jail sentence. 6 whole months! This wasn't his first arrest for DUI either.

The laws here have gotten more stingent in the last 2 years. I'm not going to be surprised to hear or read more and more about people who have pulled what Paris did getting jail time. There are some judges in this area that aren't going to tolerate the repeat offenders.

Quite frankly, I'd like to see some of them lose their automobiles. Paris probably has 5 or 6, so she'd lose them all. The average Joe may have one and is used by the family. That would create a hardship for the family, but if they had to do without the car for a while might make them think long and hard.

We used to have a C/W bar around the corner. I liked to go and spend a couple of hours there line dancing. I would order a mixed drink in a very tall glass with a water back. I would never drink more than 2 and have 2 glasses of water with each one. (Yes, I peed a lot). I would not drive home until it had been almost an hour since my last drink. All I had to do was drive through the parking lot, turn right, go 1/4 blk, turn right and then the 2 blks to my home. I wasn't in traffic. However, I was not about to get on the streets. When this place closed, my friends and I went to another place several miles away. I would have 1 drink and wouldn't drink alcohol the rest of the evening because I had to drive several miles in traffic.

I don't want the hassle of losing my license, paying a fine, spending jail time and risking not being able to have insurance. It isn't worth it financially to me. However, the more important issue is that I don't think I could live with myself if I hurt myself for someone else because of doing something that could have been avoided.

While cabs may be expensive, they are much cheaper than the fines, possible job loss and increased insurance rates not to mention the peace of mind in knowing that nobody got hurt because of someones stupidity.

If you get more than 1 DUI within 10 years here, you have mandatory jail time. I think the next news will be about Nicole Richie. She's had 2 in less than 10 years.

Hey! That's their new show! The Simple Life - Cell Mates.

My point is if people can afford to go partying they can afford to pay a cab for a safe ride home.

When I was 4 1/2 months pregnant with my first baby, I was hit from behind by a drunk driver. He did get out of his car, stumble over and ask if I was OK. Nothing happened to him cause he left the scene of the crash and was never found. I was sitting in my car waiting on the police and never saw his tag as he backed away. I started spotting later that night and miscarried the next day. This was one of the hardest things in my life to deal with and I still think about it sometimes.

Simple Life -Cell Mates, I love that.

That's the part I REALLY don't get LILYBELLE! Some of these people are worth MILLIONS! and can't afford a freakin' cab! Last week here in one of our tri-cities, Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers was busted for a dui...he had a 23 yr old girl with him...me thinks he is well into his 60's+.

I will drive an hour...sometimes a little less, after one beer...after 2...no driving at all!

My daughter got sternly lectured in a Washington County Maryland court for driving 50 in a 40 after she tried to explain that she was just past the sign that changed the speed limit to 40 from 50

AFTER the judge gave three drivers with DUI's probation before judgement.

Aparently this judge believes it's okay to drive a little intoxicated as long as you don't speed.

It would be really wonderful if most, or even half of the uproar over Paris Hilton and her behavior, conviction and sentence, was really about concern over DUI penalties. Maybe I'm overly cynical, but five years as a probation officer, taught me how little anyone truly cared about changing or improving the system from the inside or the outside. I tried, I swam upstream as long as I could, trying to make a difference, and in the end I had to get out or drown. "High-profile," even in smaller towns, tend to be more about squishing a formerly important or wealthy person than care about the victims or the crime itself. We love to see people fall, especially if we have the opportunity to kick them when their down.

Paris is easy to dislike (for the life of my, I can't understand why anyone finds her interesting enough to follow or watch). My darker soul revels in the knowledge that she experienced true fear and powerlessness in those three days of jail. Evil Colleen was disappointed that she was released to home detention and overjoyed when she went back to jail. Part of me loves that she is going to serve solitary confinement for her entire sentence, and will be dissapointed that good behavior (which really means no bad behavior) will probably cut her sentence in half. If I'm honest with myself, part of me would love to see them throw away the key - but not because of her crime, but because she seems to be a spoiled, clueless brat.

When I separate all of that from the equation, I can find a little sympathy for her. Not much, certainly no more than for a squished snake on the side of the road, but enough to know that Paris-hatred has very little to do with what she did and more to do with who she is.

You have some very interesting thoughts here Colleen. I often think why are "we" (speaking for myself here) so fascinated by "characters" like this. Are we jealous (again speaking for me ~ )? Maybe. Do "we" REALLY want to see Paris locked up and "taken down" more severe than the norm? (again "me" ~ )

I think we all agree the system ...better than any one else's...needs improvement. But as you mentioned, it probably will not change.

We have a member of our church right now in prison for driving under the influence. He hit a man on a bicycle one morning....the man died. This member had confided in me that he had a drug problem, that he was getting under control, during a "personal" one on one we had during an exercise we had for an evangelism class. He did not need to reveal this to me, we were not good friends, barely knew each other's names really. He wasn't asking for help, just shared it with me during our assignment. That was 4 years ago...the accident happened last year.

This is not a bad guy...he did a horrible thing....so sad for not only him but obviously for the victim and his family.

Yet I have spent more than enough time reading about Paris and yet I have not even sent this man a card or letter asking if there is anything I can do to comfort him through this "prison" he has given himself.

It is a strange world "we" (again ~ speaking for "me") live in.

Oh and by the way...Pastor did mention Paris in his sermon today...knew he would...always finds a way to bring the "thoughts of today" into the message. It was short... something about our focus and that she must have drug or mental issues.

Prayers for ALL victims of these issues at hand