Friday saw Felicity Huffman sentenced to some prison time for her participation in the massive college admissions scandal. After pleading with the court and several emotional moments with Huffman, the prosecutors and the judge, the Desperate Housewives actress was sentenced to 14 days behind bars and $30,000 fine.
After the news broke, many pointed out a distressing issue with the ruling and how it compares to past rulings with similar or lower circumstances.
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“Felicity Huffman was sentenced to two weeks in jail for buying her daughters way into college,” one outraged user wrote on Twitter. “A homeless lady was sentenced to 5 years for using an address to send her kid to Kindergarten outside her district.”
7 years ago, homeless mom Tanya McDowell got 5 years in prison for enrolling her son in a school outside her listed district.
Today, wealthy actress Felicity Huffman got 14 days for paying $15K to rig her daughter’s SAT scores. Huffman says she’s “deeply ashamed.” pic.twitter.com/J6UxEkwWDL
— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 13, 2019
While it is easy to feel this is a small segment of the population reacting or an example without all the details, it has now entered the realm of politics and the ongoing election campaign for 2020. Echoing many users, Bernie Sanders tweeted out a story comparing Huffman’s case to Tanya McDowell’s case.
“We have a criminal justice system which is racist, broken, and must be fundamentally reformed,” Sanders tweeted on Friday after the ruling.
Huffman was also given probation and community service for her crime but will only spend two weeks behind bars. In comparison to the other alleged offenders in the college admissions scandal, this is a light offender and the sentence might seem correct. But outside the spotlight of gossip headlines, everyday people don’t seem to have the same standards.
Still, Huffman’s sentencing moves us all one step closer to seeing how Lori Loughlin will fare under the pressure of the law. Unlike Huffman, the former Full House star did not plead guilty and decided to fight in court.
“Wonder what Lori Loughlinis thinking now — she’s chosen to go trial after allegedly paying a $500,000 bribe. Huffman only paid $15,000 to boost her daughter’s SAT score and pleaded guilty,” Alex DiPrato wrote on Twitter after the ruling was made.
Loughlin’s case is set to go to trial soon, but no official date has been set yet. Huffman has until October before she has to arrive for her prison sentence.
