Chris Brown & Rihanna

As Chris Brown faces a judge and jury for accusations of beating Rihanna, many of us are watching with baited breath. What will happen to this young popstar who has never had any trouble with the law until now? Will he be made an example of and be given a sentence harsher than anyone before him? Will he be given leniency–the same kind that other people are given when they are first time offenders. With the American criminal justice system, you can never know for sure.

This weekend I held a couple of workshops with teen girls. These workshops dealt with healthy relationships, dating violence and the like. We did a poll and I asked the 23 ladies who were in my workshop, “Who is more at fault? Chris Brown or Rihanna?” 83% felt Chris Brown was more at fault, but 17% felt that Rihanna was more at fault. Though this wasn’t a scientific study, I asked the young ladies to vote according to what they’d heard in the media and what their feelings were about the situation.

The young ladies who fell into the 17% who “blamed” Rihanna for the altercation felt that she must have hit Chris first, or did something that caused him to react in such a way. One young lady went as far as to say, “Sometimes people can really make you go off. He ain’t like that so she must have done something…”  Thank goodness there were a sea of ladies who chimed in, “No matter what she did, he shouldn’t have hit her. No man should put a hand on a woman.” Thank goodness for that.

What do you think should happen at the trial today. Based on what you’ve heard, should this first time offender have the book thrown at him or should he receive leniency. I’d love to know your thoughts.

**UPDATE**

Chris Brown enters a plea deal and gets 5 years probation and 180 days of community service!

Below is on his Chris Brown’s fans supporting him no matter what! Beware: We live in a cult of celebrity where we believe in people based on how much we like their music!