Guilty Until Proven Innocent?

[bshort31092]

It seems as though every court case that gets picked up by the media ends up with the defendant being found guilty in public opinion. OJ, Mike Vick, R. Kelly, the Caylee Anthony case. The media seems to push all the negative aspects without reviewing all the facts. I was just wondering whether or not I was in a dreamland.

 

[Dave]

To some extend. The media will always sensationalise things and when they are found guilty is like a huge pay off for them. The only high profile one I can think of is Micheal Jackson. I think people just love that guy so much that they cannot see past his flaws. Do not get me wrong a lot of people still hate him for what he may or may not have done. But the dude has sold out arena after arena on a sell out tour recently. So for that reason I think that it is not always correct to say that they are guilty in public opinion.

 

[HBK-aholic]

The media does often have this attitude. However, when discussing celebrities, this status is due to the majority of the population wanting them to be sentenced as a regular citizen would be if they commited the crime. This desire often leads to people forgetting about the status of conviction, and automatically discussing the sentence, as it is deemed more important and more likely to be swayed by fame. It's wrong that they make assumptions, but they want the judge to know if they are found guilty they should be sentenced as a normal person would be.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

I think you are answering your own Question. It's Celebs. They aren't "regular individuals", they're "role-models". Whether they choose to be, or not. When you decide to go into a Profession that's widely seen by the media - you become apart of it, especially if you become famous. (as is the case with 90% of the people you named off)

NO ONE should ever be considered guilty until proven otherwise. Every case needs to be judged and ruled fairly and unbiasedly, but this is America and overall the World. Its not gonna happen that way, because once again they're Celebs. You'll see a higher "crackdown" rate on celebs being punished harder now - then you would've in the past. It's mainly because a lot of celebs these days are of the firm belief that they're above the law.

A strong case in point would be your Micheal Vick case. Or even the situation with O.J Simpson. They broke major laws, and for whatever purpose didn't even hesitate to do so upon the time they broke them. They didn't think what the outcome would be - because they likely just assumed because they were famous, that they could get by with it and the court case would be either blown off - or the situation would just die down and disappear.

Simpson's murder trial really fucked him because ever since that issue, many people still haven't gotten over whether he did or didn't do it. So naturally, when the dip shit does a B&E, it's going to warrant major repercussion. Hardly anyone would've wanted to see a possible murder-er walk on another (slightly) major law issue.

The other thing is, it's the media's job to more or less make every celeb look horrible. Call it the "Wake-up Call" for Celebrates. It helps even them realize they aren't Super-human, untouchable or immortal. Everyone is shown and seen as weak, and in bad situations. Everyone has them, just not everyone (only celebs) get ridiculed for them. Once again - all falling back on the fact of them being role-models to everyone else, because of the publicised Profession they decided to go into.

 

[Razor]

Ideally, everyone should be judged Innocent before proven Guilty. but that's not the case all of the time, especially in the case of a heinous crime. The worse the crime gets, the more the jury resorts to "Well, if they weren't guilty they wouldn't be here, now would they?" and going off of that faulty logic. Shitty, I know. Especially if a cop or M.E. made a mistake and fucked this kid over. He's now sentenced to life in prison and he didn't even do anything. Not only that, but the one who did commit the crime is free to commit more.

But in the case of celebrities, it's even more pronounced. In most cases it's because the media has more of a role in the case, and if the media is involved things are getting sensationalized and blown out of proportion. Another part is the jealousy we have for celebrities, especially in America. Some of us want nothing more than to prove to the celebrities they're no better than we are, and will condemn that man without a second thought. Most wouldn't, but some will.

It's not fair, not at all. But that's what happens when you're in the public spotlight. Everyone has an opinion, and sadly for you, millions get to think about how you're guilty before your jury is even selected. That's gotta suck.