When someone with the high profile of a Paris Hilton gets herself in trouble, it invariably separates people into two (at least) camps.  Ironically, both have the same slogan:  It’s because she’s Paris Hilton.  The difference is that one camp applauds the action while the other slams it. 


Paris Hilton’s “Driving for Dummies”
Editor’s Note:  See drink in hand while
within vehicle.  Driving Attire optional.

A 45 day sentence is fairly steep for ignoring a license suspension.  Was she contemptuous of the Court, and more importantly, the rule of law it represents?  Uh, yeah.  Did she need 45 days in the slammer to learn a lesson.  Probably, one night with Big Bertha would have done the trick. Bertha’s a little lonely, you see.

But that’s not what this is about.  Individual deterrence is one legitimate purpose of sentencing, but not the only purpose.  Another purpose is general deterrence, the message to the rest of the world that there’s a price to pay if you think you can ignore the law and the court. 

When an ordinary Joe gets nailed, maybe his family and a few close friends get the message that they shouldn’t screw up like Joe.  But when Paris is the perp, the whole world gets the message, including a whole bunch of young men and women who would otherwise never hear or care about the news.  This is a huge platform to send a message to a group who otherwise hears nothing and believes itself immune to consequences of misconduct.  This is general deterrence at its best.

So, this is a good thing, right?  A legitimate use of the sentencing power to serve the interests of society.  Well, let’s not jump the gun just yet.  While general deterrence is a legitimate purpose, there is yet another interest at stake that has to be factored into the equation.  Proportionality.  Though Paris makes a great conduit to send the rest of us a message, she is still a human being (no, don’t go there) and as such worthy of the same consideration as our other buddy, ordinary Joe.  The court is therefore supposed to find a balance, a tipping point if you will, between the message and the individual.  The sentence must still be limited to no more than is necessary to teach Paris the lesson that it’s not good to mess with the criminal justice system.

So we find ourselves back at the starting point:  Was 45 days necessary to get Paris to appreciate the severity of her offense?  Being one of the few people in America who does not know Paris intimately, I can’t answer this question.  Then again, I also can’t figure out why Kathy Hilton named her daughter Paris.