Kate Dailey has a good roundup of responses to the common arguments trotted out by the folks who are shocked and horrified that Roman Polanski might face jail time for raping a child. Here’s a good snippet:

The crime was 30 years ago! He’s been living on the run ever since. Hasn’t he been punished enough?

Punished how? By his gorgeous Paris apartment and his jet-setting European lifestyle and his long and illustrious career? Apparently so:

See, you or I might think that not going back to the U.S. or U.K. is an action Polanski took in order to make sure that, having raped a minor and fled the country, he would not be rearrested. But you or I would be wrong. In fact these are punishments that Polanski has suffered. (Kieran Healy at Crooked Timber)

Polanski was living a life of his own choosing for the past 30 years. He chose to leave the country. He chose to stay out of the country. That’s not a punishment.

Read the whole thing.

And for those wondering why I’ve spent so much time on this, it’s pretty simple. There are two things about the Justice System that I particularly deplore. One is its willingness to turn a blind eye to prosecutorial and police misconduct in order to score a conviction–regardless of the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Second is its willingness to allow the rich and the powerful to get away with their crimes, scot free, without a shred of remorse.

Both of these things are in desperate need of change. The Justice System is–very slowly–starting to turn around on the former. Not so much on the latter, but the Polanski case might help to change that. I want more prosecutions of the powerful for their crimes, and if Polanski is successfully extradited then it might start a turnaround there, too.