tax evasion vs. domestic violence

Being a recent college graduate means that money is constantly tight. I am employed full time, but it still does not allow me to afford the luxury of cable television AND making my regularly scheduled payments to the overlords of my life over at JP Morgan Chase Bank that financed the piece of paper hanging on my wall. Fortunately basic cable is included in the price of my rent. This means that I spend a lot of my television viewing time watching TBS and E!.

I usually avoid watching E! regularly because, generally, I couldn't give a shit less about celebrity gossip. However, the Kardashian's are a guilty pleasure of mine and E! also occasionally plays a decent movie. This evening was one of those nights, upon returning to my home, "Knocked Up" was on. For lack of anything better afterward the boyfriend and I were watching Chelsea Handler's new reality "After Lately," where on the bottom of the screen "breaking" news was scrolling (a al, a 24-hour news channel). Two of the headlines read thus:

Richard Hatch ["Survivor" season 1 winner] sentenced to 9 more months in jail for tax evasion.
News Story Here
and
Mel Gibson convicted on a domestic violence charge, sentenced to 3 years probation, a 52-week class, and $400 fine for "allegedly" striking his girlfriend.
New Story Here

Are. You. Kidding. Me?

Tax evasion earns Richard Hatch 8 original years in prison and an additional 9 months now? But Mel Gibson physical and verbally (at the very least) assaults a human being and gets a slap on the wrist? This is a short description of the incident that Mel Gibson was charged for:

"The case of "People V Mel Gibson" stemmed from a disputed incident on Jan 6, 2010 when his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, a 41-year-old Russian pianist and singer, claimed he punched her and knocked out her teeth during an argument at his Malibu home.

Months later, tapes of the actor ranting at her down the phone, spewing racial slurs and sexist comments, began appearing on the internet. The choicest tirades included "I'll put you in a ------- rose garden you ----! You understand that? Because I'm capable of it" and "You need a ------- bat in the side of the head."

That just makes me sick. I work with women (and men) who are survivors of this kind of abuse, and I see perpetrators go unpunished all the time. Either because the survivor does not wish to press charges because of fear or shame, or because domestic violence is notoriously hard to prosecute. However, when there is video/audio evidence of the abuse and documentation of physical abuse from medical professionals, Gibson should be serving some serious jail time. He's clearly unstable, and will probably perpetrate this kind of abuse again.

from the girl who knows what it feels like...