Jail a place faraway that none of us likes to think of, or wants to end up in; we also know that if we end up in there, we will gain a horrible reputation and it will turn people away from us, and interfere with our careers. But … Wait… wait a minuet… Hollywood’s trend is getting arrested… doesn’t Lilo a.k.a Lindsay Lohan have like a gazillion fans, how bout B.F.F Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, and ex Lost star Michelle Rodrigues, even bigger well respected actors like Mel Gibson, they’ve all been in jail but it doesn’t seem to have a bad influence on them. They’ve been arrested and convicted for various accounts, DUI (Driving Under Influence), possession of illegal drugs, even dangerous car chase, but for some reason all this did to them was boost their fame and name. In fact, they had more exposure to audiences around the world than ever before. They even showed up to court wearing their most glamorous outfits and huge smiles knowing they can bribe their way out of jail in a blink of an eye.

Yes, true they are celebrities, Hollywood millionaires, they live in a world where they make their own rules and live by them, but how can they live by their own rules when these rules can harm innocent non Hollywood people that should be protected by non Hollywood laws?

When Paris, walked out of her month long jail house stay, into what seemed like a red carpet, she was cheered for and welcomed, and what Inside Edition (an American entertainment news program) decided to give tips on as a follow up to Paris’ jail exit coverage, was how to use junk food as make up.. Don’t you think that maybe, just maybe they could have concentrated more on how much DUI has affected people’s lives and how dangerous it is. Drunk driving is NOT entertainment, In the US, 500 people are killed weekly due to alcohol related accidents. Also, statistically a life is lost every 20 minutes because of the same cause. Driving under the Influence will almost certainly lead to the death of the driver or an outsider.

Most people involved in these accidents are between the ages of 16-24, and 80% of these accidents happen between 8pm and 8am.

According to US laws, in the best of cases, that is an accident that results in nothing more that the injury of someone and not escaping the crime scene, will result in 5 years of imprisonment and $5000 fine. If the accident results in fatalities, then the punishment increases to $10.000 fine and 15 whole years in prison, in which case the young adult driving would also have his life taken away fro him/her for one night’s fun.

The sad thing is that out of every 200 drunk drivers only 1 is caught, and here we are watching Lindsay Lohan barely spending 24 hours in jail after being arrested for the 3^rd time for DUI, how does that help prevent the death of more innocent lives?

Seriously, seriously, what’s up with this whole ‘girls night out’ attitude towards the arrest and imprisonment of Hollywood Queens and Kings? Celebrities they may be but they are still human beings, who are very much capable of harming fellow human beings. So when they’re Hollywood rules intervene with real life rules, maybe Celebrities ought to be arrested like everyone else for the well being of society.

Nicole Rickie