Who ever is doing public relations for Martha Stewart deserves every penny she is paying them. Law schools teach that the purposes of sending lawbreakers to jail are to deter wrongdoing and punish the wrongdoers. The press coverage of Martha Stewart's release from prison suggests a third purpose: humanizing celebrities, giving them some adversity to triumph over so they can make a stirring comeback and sell lots of home products.

  UPDATE: See also this post from Eric Muller.

  ANOTHER UPDATE: The Sunday New York Times will have a commentary in the Week in Review section very similar to this. You can see the online version here.