Friday, April 28, 2017

No Justice for the Wealthy

In the United States, if you are rich enough, you can get away with anything.

There are a few exceptions to this rule, but not many. Bernard Madoff is in prison, though he is serving his sentence in comfort.

Among all the many examples of wealthy people getting away with crimes, I have chosen the story of Patty Hearst. You are welcome to read, at your favorite online source, the story of her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. A good source of information is the recent book American Heiress.

This so-called Army was actually a small cult that went on murderous frenzies. They kidnapped Patty Hearst, heiress of the Hearst fortune. At first she was confined, but soon she was allowed freedom of movement. Her captors became her friends. During the ensuing crimes committed by this Army, Hearst had many opportunities to reveal her captivity to third parties, or even to literally drive away from it. But she did not do so. She was as guilty of the crimes as anybody would be who fell in with a band of criminals and chose not to leave. This little cult was not a Mafia who could have hunted her down had she left them. Their tiny number dwindled to almost none after the shootout and fire in Los Angeles that killed the leaders of the cult.

Almost anyone else in Hearst’s situation would have been held accountable for such crimes. But Patty was rich. Really rich. Her parents wanted her to receive a pardon, as did their friend Ronald Reagan, who was the Republican governor of California. They vigorously requested that the Democratic President Carter commute her sentence, which he did. On his last day in office, the Democratic President Clinton pardoned her.


Politicians, both Republican and Democrat, will allow rich criminals to get away with almost anything.

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