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Hilton committed a serious crime, one that endangered lives. And she should be punished with far more than five days of confinement. (And not home confinement--no ankle bracelets, please.)
But what about our draconian justice system?
Why couldn’t she take any books to her cell? A cell in which she was to spend 23 hours per day alone? In Denmark, even serious offenders get TV in their cells. There, authorities and criminals find confinement itself, even if the inmate gets to spend some time watching TV or reading, to be as effective a deterrent to future crimes as harsher measures.
Hilton would've had plenty of time to ponder her crime, even if she'd had some books on hand.
The article by Havrilesky and Traister suggests how difficult it is to justly punish someone when the justice system is too harsh. A prominent journalist--maybe Havrilesky or Traister?--needs to look at this issue more closely.
I wonder what Hilton would have read in her cell, had she been allowed. The Bible? She did have a copy in hand in a recent photograph, taken just after she’d been convicted.
(By the way, Hilton's Bible, along with our justice system, is another sign of this country’s backwardness. Hilton's just one example of an American type: the priveleged hedonist who, in times of personal crisis only, turns to the spotty wisdom of the Bible.)
And, concerning Hilton's wild-girl image: So much for the socialite who said, "I'm ready to face my sentence."
