Paris v. Lindsay: Similar Crimes, Different Sentences

Lindsay Lohan isn't a popular person to defend. In fact, her sometimes bizarre behavior and seeming disregard for the law make it downright impossible. And while many were happy to see the long arm of the law finally come down hard on the actress, Lohan's sentence seems particularly harsh -- well, part of it anyway.
On Tuesday,
Lohan was sentenced to 90 days in jail and a 90-day inpatient rehabilitation program. The actress will likely serve approximately 23 days behind bars because, according to Los Angeles Sheriff's Department spokesperson Steve Whitmore, female inmates in custody for nonviolent crimes generally serve about 25 percent of their sentence. Few would argue that Lohan doesn't deserve the jail time; after all, any other person in her situation would have been sentenced to the same.
What's more interesting here is the required stint in rehab. This addition to Lohan's sentence is not especially notable because the actress was hit with it, but rather because others in the exact same situation have not been.
Consider Paris Hilton, who in September 2006 was arrested for driving under the influence. The following January the heiress pleaded no contest to the charges and was sentenced to 36 months probation and fines. Not long after her sentencing, Hilton was pulled over and found to have been driving on a suspended license. She was pulled over a second time in late February 2007, this time for speeding, while her license was still under suspension.
These two offenses, combined with Hilton's failure to enroll in required alcohol education classes, constituted two separate violations of her probation, and she was sentenced to 45 days in jail. Hilton eventually served 23 days of her jail term.
Perhaps more relevant to the Lohan case, however, are the precedents set by Hilton's 'Simple Life' co-star Nicole Richie.
In February 2003, Richie was arrested in Malibu for possession of heroin and driving with a suspended license. The socialite was arrested again in late 2006 for driving under the influence when California Highway Patrol were called to the Burbank area for a report of a black Mercedes-Benz SUV driving in the wrong direction on the freeway. At the time, Richie admitted to being under the influence of marijuana and Vicodin.
Richie was sentenced to four days in jail in July 2007, though she served only 82 minutes of her sentence. She was also ordered to complete an 18-month driver education course, and recently saw her probation extended one year to March 2011 so she could make up classes missed while caring for her two young children. Alcohol educators have had nothing but praise for the decidedly reformed star, who is now more of a fashion designer than a tabloid fixture.
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Lindsay in Court
Lindsay Lohan reacts to a judges sentence at the Beverly Hills Courthouse on July 6, 2010 in Los Angeles. More Photos >>
AFP/Getty Images
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Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
After spending all day in the salon, Lindsay Lohan emerged, sporting a strawberry blonde do. May 25, 2010 X17online.com exclusive
Lindsay Lohan Snapshots
Like Lohan, Richie has voluntarily checked into rehab for substance abuse issues in the past. However, Richie, despite the direct connection to drugs in both her arrests, was never mandated to complete rehab, so it seems odd that Lohan would be slapped with such an aggressive term of rehabilitation when Richie wasn't. Sure, cocaine was found on the actress during her 2007 DUI arrest, but she has not been charged with any drug-related offenses since and has already spent time in rehab related to her 2007 arrests.
While many suspect the actress of continued use, no one -- including the legal system -- can prove that she is using. Lohan has proven herself to be completely clean and sober since at least late May of this year, when Judge Marsha Revel ordered the actress to wear an alcohol-monitoring SCRAM device and submit to weekly random drug testing. And by all accounts, if she were as addicted as some have claimed, it seems strange that she would have been able to quit so abruptly; addictions are defined by how difficult they are to end, and the physical consequences of going cold turkey can cause very observable health problems.
So, why is Lohan being sentenced to rehab when she has shown the court that she is no longer using drugs? Of course, the court is privy to things the media is not, but consider that the second her SCRAM went off (in an apparent misread), it was a news alert, and that had she failed a drug test, she would have been immediately taken to jail. Right now, Lindsay is clean.
Lohan violated her probation and now she has to deal with the consequences of her DUI arrests. That's fair, and it's how the system works. But it's hard to look at the facts of the case and the treatment others have received and not wonder if Lindsay Lohan is also being punished for being on the wrong side of a tabloid narrative that portrays her as a drug-abusing nightmare -- despite very real evidence to the contrary.
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I think she got off way to easy gets her own cell to boot f..k that
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I think she got off way too easy as well; but it isn't fair to put her back in rehab if she isn't still using drugs. That takes a bed away from a person who really needs rehab.
Ninty days? If she does thirty, I'll eat a bug.
For PUBLICLY thumbing her nose at the court, she should have toservr the WHOLE 90 day sentence.
both of them, along with many others are no more than trash. yes, hollywood or horrywood as i call it just keeps putting them out to make some money on them. such a shame, what ever happen to real
idols and stars to look up to.
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I agree with you...the actors you would of looked up to are basically a dying breed. As for Lindsay, I think she is being sent to rehab not only to make sure she doesn't get back on her cycle of doom..but to mentally make sure she is ready to get back in to the real life.
OH wow, clean since May...what's that, less than 2 months? She is out of control and perhaps this will help wake her up.
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I think she got off way to easy, like I said before, if it was you or me, we would be escorted directly to jail, then to court.
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I hope this lesson will serve Lindsey well she is a favorite of mine and I hate to see this very talented young lady heading down such a horrible path. Perhaps the judge is doing her the biggest favor of her life...Laws are in place for reasons and they need to be obeyed. God Bless you, Lindsey hope you can get the message and turn your life around.
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No they weren't too harsh. Why is it being said they are trying to make an example out of her? So what if they are. They need to. Is this what we will hear every time a celebrity starts messing up and continues to have disregard for everything and everyone? Well when will people start being held accountable for their actions. Just because they are stars doesn't make them better than me or you. They put their pants on everyday just like I do. One leg at a time. So it's time someone was held responsible for their actions. Why not start with someone who shows no remorse. What kind of respect was that to go to court with F--k You written on one of her fingernails?
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Dead in a pile of her own sick by age 25. Rehab is the only chance she has, but she won't take it seriously. She's above the rest of us mere mortals.
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She has a prescription drug problem, and that did show up on her drug reports, but because she had valid prescriptions they are permitted. Besides the sentence, the judge also asked a physician to look into her prescribed drugs to see if they are necessary, and whether she will be allowed to use them while incarcerated.
I believe also, the judge stated that Lindsay has refused to take responsibility for her actions, and that is why she was giving her a harsh sentence.
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put them both in the dog pound and give them the needle nothing but trash and pigs
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Disgusting there ar two rules of law for people. There one for you and me and one for celebrities. If we got caught we woul not get a second third and fourth chance much less a fifth before going directly to jail. Idol worship is a terrible thing, but Americans think these poorly educated people are the scholars of todays society. No wonder the world is going to hell in a handbag and Obama can get away with anything he wants.
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What does Obama how to do with any of this? Let me guess..In your mind Obama is to blame for what happened in The Garden of Eden too?
Well if I went to Court with F**K you on my finger, i would not have walked out the door lilo did. I'd be put in jail for contempt.
Well Ricky, He is the text-book picture of EVIL !
Megahot, you're a megamoron. Stop listening to Beck, Limbaugh and O'Reilly and form an opinion of your own. Meanwhile, STAY ON TOPIC.
I didn't know Obama was in the car with Lohan while she was DWI...
Obama has nothing to do with this. Stay on topic!