What do Paris Hilton and John Walker Lindh have in common? Not much. But they are both illustrative of how out of whack the concept of "proportionality" has become in our criminal justice sentencing.
Paris Hilton was sentenced to 45 days (reduced to 23 days) for violating the terms of her probation--driving with a suspended license after a plea agreement on her DUI arrest. Elisa Kelly has been sentenced to 27 months for providing her son and his friends alcohol on his 16th birthday (after confiscating all car keys). I'm not excusing either of these crimes. I'm just saying that most people would find the sentences incongruous. Both women engaged in or facilitated underage drinking. They both engaged in reckless endangerment. But the party host mom goes to jail for more than two years and the party girl goes to jail for little more than two weeks.
On a much grander scale, consider the fates of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh, Yaser Esam Hamdi and David Hicks--three men who were all basically doing the same thing--allying themselves with the Taliban. John Walker Lindh was sentenced to jail for 20 years. David Hicks, when he was finally allowed some semblance of a trial, was sentenced to 9 months, which specifically did NOT include the 5 years he spent on Guantanamo Bay (I'm not discounting being lost in the black hole for 5 years, I'm just trying to emphasize that the actual sentence was 9 months.) And Yaser Hamdi, after having his case litigated all the way up to the Supreme Court at taxpayer expense, was set scot-free!
The utter lack of proportionality in sentencing--stemming from politics more than punishment--undermines most of the pillars of punitive pedagogy. If "incapacitation" was really the issue, Paris Hilton would be in jail at least until she turns 21 for repeated underage drunk driving arrests. If retribution was really the issue, I submit that Lindh, Hamdi and Hicks have paid their debt for youthful stupidity in joining up with the Taliban. If deterrence was the issue, then then we are sending a very mixed message.