Justice may be blind but she isn't deaf, as Scott Brannan has proved.
An all-star line up of powerful, former politicians have been whispering sweet nothings into her ear, recommending that the 29 year-old convicted drug trafficker be released from prison 17 months early.
Requesting that Brannan be released to complete medical school and provide care for underprivileged communities may seem like doing society a favor, but it isn't. It perpetuates the idea that lines the pockets of lawyers with billions of dollars every year: We do not have to be responsible for our actions.
Movie stars, musicians and athletes constantly try to shirk their obligations and we let them get away with it because they can afford to shop at Saks Fifth Avenue. For example, since his first arrest in 1996, Robert Downey Jr. finally served a prison sentence in November 2000 — more than four arrests and four years after his initial run-in with the law.
Letting him off easy so he can bring joy and entertainment to the masses in "Ally McBeal" was no sort of good will to society. Had the courts punished him appropriately the first time, they would have retained what little integrity the justice system had and reminded us that we are accountable for the decisions we make.
The rich and famous aren't the only ones who try to avoid the consequences of their destructive behavior. In this fine nation of ours litigious Americans everywhere are constantly looking to blame someone else for what they did to themselves. They blame McDonald's for making them fat, tobacco for giving them cancer and Coke for their rotting teeth.
Unless these people are subjected to horribly disturbing things that I am unaware of, I am quite sure that Ronald McDonald doesn't shove Big Macs down their throats.
We have the power to choose what happens to us. However, if there were a movement to ban cigarettes and Big Macs for the good of the public, everyone would be up in arms fighting for their right to do whatever they please. We live in a country where our freedoms and liberties are sacred, but when it comes down to it, no one wants to do what it takes to preserve them. Underneath, we find that self-reliance and accountability are of little value.
Don't study. Get a bad grade.
Blindly charge everything to a credit card. Fall into debt.
It all seems so logical, but cases like Scott Brannan's are showing us that it's not.
As it turns out, having friends in high places will get you everything (something that will surely disappoint Garth Brooks). And they don't really mean it when they say, "Do the crime, do the time." It just sounds good because it rhymes.
Tomorrow, to our horror (or delight), we will discover that money can really buy you love and you don't have to wait 30 minutes after you eat to swim in the pool.
In defending the early release of Brannan, his lawyer, A. Melvin McDonald, said, "[what] benefit is there to the state of Arizona or to taxpayers if we lock him away for another year and a few months? Why not get him into medical school, let him get out and start blessing the lives of the people?"
I don't know Mr. McDonald, how about the benefit of restoring the virtues of pride, equity and responsibility to society? And, if that is too much to ask, perhaps the benefit of knowing that our justice system is just?
Lynh Bui is a journalism sophomore. Reach her at lynh.bui@asu.edu.
