I'm certainly no admirer of O.J. Simpson, but it needs to be said that parole was almost a certainty, given he was by all accounts a model prisoner, served the minimum sentence and most important of all, because under American jurisprudence, his past criminal charges and the subsequent controversial acquittal could not and should not have factored into the parole commissioners' decision.

Most anyone looking dispassionately at the 9-to-32 year sentence Simpson received for the botched robbery attempt comes away with a suspicion that this was simply extralegal payback for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.  If you actually consider the light sentences (including just probation) that some of Simpson's compatriots received - some unlike Simpson, who were carrying guns - then on some level an uncomfortable sense that justice was not served is understandable.

People should never be above the law, but neither should anyone fall below what it stands for as well.