What causes some celebrities to get off easy while others are made into examples? Celebrities are held to inconsistent standards. There seems to be a thin line between a slap on the wrist and extreme punishments.
As in the ‘vision regime’ celebrities are never free from publication. They may walk off the stage or field but the camera still follows. What they do in their free time effects their professional life and career. Therefore it is important for celebrities to avoid bad press. This includes DUI’s, misdemeanors and in some cases murder.
Dante Stallworth a wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns had a combination of all those. Stallworth hit and killed a pedestrian on his way home from a bar in 2009. He eventually reached an agreement with the family of the victim. Stallworth was sentenced to only 30 days in prison, community service, and 2 years of house arrest for a 15 year crime. The lawyers got the matter sorted out quickly and let it die down. I guess money buys a good defense and an easy way out.
On the other hand there is Michael Vick who was convicted for dog fighting. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison. (That’s 22 more than Stallworth who killed a person). The Michael Vick case was made much more visible and public plus the crime was new to the public. A simple slap on the wrist would not have been enough in this case. People want to see justice get served so the system decided to make an example out of Vick and give the public what they wanted. Whether it is out of the game or into a jail cell, people want to see criminals get what’s coming to them. However it is also necessary that the punishment fit the crime. Additionally it should be consistent. Whether a case is made public or under wraps should not be the deciding factor of whether a criminal be punished. The justice system has set standards and a guilty criminal, celerity or not, is no exception.
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