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The Dartmouth
July 14, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

The End of a Roman Holiday

According to the American social conscience, child molesters are the elite of all felons. Their crime is about the most evil thing one person can do, and the law dictates that these criminals be permanently removed from society with strict regulations of where they're allowed to walk, whom they're allowed to talk to and who must know about their dark past. So how about that Roman Polanski fellow? The guy who molested a 13-year-old girl some 30 years ago, then ran away to France to evade punishment?

Does that not sound familiar? Maybe this will jog your memory Polanski is the Academy Award-winning director of "The Pianist," a three-time Oscar nominee and one of the most acclaimed directors in Europe. Last weekend, Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for his heinous crime. Yet, instead of holding parades and celebrations for his arrest, the reaction in France and the filmmaking industry in general has been highly critical of the Swiss. This response poses a troubling question to what extent are we willing to give celebrities special treatment in the eyes of the law?

Polanski's case is an interesting one. The case itself is 32 years old, and the current attempt to extradite him from Switzerland isn't the first as recently as 2007, American authorities attempted to convince Israel to extradite Polanski. These attempts, and the time and labor spent pursuing them, have certainly been costly, and many do not see the need for the ongoing pursuit of these charges. Polanski has since admitted to his crimes, and the victim, Samantha Geimer, has publicly forgiven him, even asking for the charges to be dropped because of the undue negative attention she is paid whenever the case is discussed.

For these reasons, many believe that the issue should be ignored by the Justice Department and forgotten altogether. According to the CNN story "Polanski will fight extradition," filmmakers at the Zurich Film Festival have protested his arrest, and the French president and prime minister both publicly announced their support for the release of Polanski. Disturbingly, many who rally to Polanski's defense seem to cite his artistic brilliance as some form of defense the Polish Filmmakers Association published a letter denouncing the "the arbitrary treatment of one of the world's most outstanding film directors." One of Polanski's close friends even called the crime "a little mistake 32 years ago." In the face of such intense criticism and little support for the case, we are forced to ask ourselves: should the case be dropped?

Absolutely not doing so would undermine the entire notion of a justice system in America and abroad. It is appalling to me that there are even critics who would oppose the further pursuit of a trial. If these critics were to protest how the case was handled (which some do, and not unfoundedly), then that would be cause for consideration of a mistrial, and for another judge and jury to be found. However, the notion of dropping the case altogether seems to assert that Polanski is somehow popular enough to wipe clean any past wrongdoing. Neither artistic talent nor intellectual genius is a free pass to commit felonies in any country at any point in one's life.

Sure, it's easy to say that the French are misguided here, but how different are we in the United States? Americans have already seen more than their fair share of celebrity rape cases what would have happened if Kobe Bryant had fled the country before his case was dropped? Would we still be arguing the case today? People of all countries and all heritages are equally likely to assume the best of their role models, which is why we need institutions like the Justice Department that are better equipped to handle bias (though these institutions are certainly far from perfect).

There are a lot of questionable motives and events surrounding the Polanski case, but the one thing that cannot be questioned is that this man must be brought to trial. No matter his importance to, and influence within, modern artistic creation, his crime must be answered. I'm glad that so many have found it within their hearts to forgive him, but the court system does not exist to punish criminals only to the extent the public feels is necessary it is meant to prosecute all crimes with equal tenacity.