OJ laughs at your felony

A detailed analysis in today's Los Angeles Times confirmed what I already knew: Paris Hilton is spending way more time in prison than the typical inmate convicted of the same crime.

In fact, in Los Angeles county, 60 percent of those who violated the terms of their DUI probation by driving without a licence netted less than four days in the slammer -- which is about the time Paris had served before her controversial initial release. And I don't believe those numbers, which are based on inmates in the prison system, even take into account sentences without jail time.

Not surprisingly, the newspaper also uncovered that Paris is the only inmate in recent LA county history to suffer the emotional earthquake of being sent back to prison after being released.

Now that the cat is out of the bag on the overly harsh justice being served our celebrities, I can only hope the good people of America, particularly those in Los Angeles, will demand fair sentencing for Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie when they face the music for their own vehicular misunderstandings.

Maybe you think it is trivial to worry about the fate of such a disease spreading few when there are so many others suffering greater indignities around the world and perhaps even in your own backyard.

So I'll put it this way: Once celebrities realize they’re not entitled to the gentle wrist-slaps that the rest of us get for misdemeanors and minor felonies, they may be forced into the kind of more serious crimes in which, traditionally, their celebrity has held sway with the criminal justice system.

You know, like double murder. That kind of stuff.