6876: Color Commentary On Brown.

From The New York Daily News…

Chris Brown plea deal in Rihanna beating sends bad message, say domestic abuse experts

By Carrie Melago
Daily News Staff Writer

Singer Chris Brown might have avoided jail time in his vicious attack on Rihanna, but domestic violence experts aren’t letting him off the hook so easily.

Advocates fear Brown’s plea deal, which gave him five years’ probation and community labor, is so cushy that it sends the wrong message to young men and victims.

“It sets a very poor example,” Roslyn Muraskin, director of the Long Island Women’s Institute, said Tuesday.

“This is a person who attacks a woman for no reason whatsoever and now gets away with the attack.”

Brown, 20, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of felony assault in the February attack on Rihanna after the couple left a Grammy party and fought over a text message.

After seeing pictures of Rihanna’s bruised and battered face, many initially figured Brown wouldn’t be able to avoid jail.

And now that he’s been spared from prison, experts fear other boys will expect leniency for abuse.

“Even Paris Hilton got more jail time!” National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy said in a statement.

“Young girls and boys watching this unfold on TV will see than men who commit violence against women practically go scot-free.”

Rita Smith, executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said Brown’s sentence is typical for first offenders — a problem since it might not be harsh enough to stop future attacks.

“I don’t think it’s enough of a consequence,” she said. “If we give them a break, we give them a shorter sentence or less consequence, it basically just says this wasn’t such a big deal.”

Advocates are particularly troubled about the impact of the sentence on the many middle and high school students who look up to Brown and Rihanna.

But Patti Occhiuzzo Giggans, executive director of Peace Over Violence, thinks Brown should get some credit for owning up to the crime.

“I think there was something refreshing about seeing a celebrity admit guilt. We don’t see that often,” she said.