Celebrity news

Jail doesn't end celebs' glitzy lives

Welcome to the weird world of celebrity justice, where going to jail doesn't necessarily kill careers.

Often, it bolsters them.

And that, experts say, is a problem - especially for young and impressionable fans. "The impact is tremendous. . . . There's certainly not the stigma of going to jail or prison that there was 50 years ago," said Carl Taylor, a Michigan State University sociologist who studies urban youths. "Kids are not scared of going to prison. They sure as hell are not scared of going to jail."

Today, Lindsay Lohan is in a California jail to serve a 90-day sentence for violating her probation.

Meanwhile, in New York, rapper Lil Wayne - who is planning to release an album from prison, where he is serving a year sentence for having a loaded gun on his tour bus - just made the Forbes list of the 100 most powerful celebrities. (He's No. 74.)

Aside from the inconvenience of being behind bars, high-profile lives go on.

With celebrities, "there's a chance, even when they get out of prison, they can go back to making movies, singing," Taylor said. "That's not true for our kids."

Aijalon McLittle, who is 20 and grew up on Detroit's west side, knows all about jail.

"My father went to (prison) for 13 years," McLittle said. Comparing his father with the rapper T.I., who served time for a weapons violation: "My father, he can't get a job.

"With T.I., he might be opening up for Barack Obama the next inauguration. . . . My friend was incarcerated this summer. The first week there, he got jumped.

"A lot of people think jail isn't that big of a deal, but it is. . . . In the urban environment, they think it's all right. "

What's different now is our nonstop news cycle provides immediate and easy access to booking photos, police reports and the latest gossip.

How much young people worship celebrities and are influenced by their bad behavior depends, in part, on how they are raised.

Kids without a stable home environment, or parents who reinforce the difference between right and wrong, are more likely to be influenced by a celebrity's behavior, as are kids who are lonely or depressed.

And some experts suggest race plays a role in celebrity worship, which is relevant in predominantly black and poor urban cities like Detroit.

According to a survey of 630 Rochester, N.Y., teens for the 2007 book, Fame Junkies, author Jake Halpern found African-American young people to be especially attracted to fame.

When asked whether they'd rather become famous, smarter, stronger or more beautiful, 42 percent of African-American kids voted for fame, compared with 21 percent of white kids.

Day after day, celebrities coming out of jail and prison seem relatively unscathed.

A poncho-clad Martha Stewart appeared shiny and new when she was released from prison; her career is thriving once again.

Socialite and heiress Paris Hilton reappeared from jail and continues to party and promote herself.

Nicole Richie found love and is now a mother of two.

And somehow, reality vanishes.