Is public humiliation an acceptable form of punishment?

He'll serve as human traffic sign

A man convicted after street racing will wear a sandwich board to deter other speed demons.

By Associated Press
Published March 2, 2005

ORLANDO - If drivers can't read Erik Rivera's sign, they might be going too fast.

Rivera used to speed and street race late at night through south Orange County. Now he will go at a slower pace - walking - wearing a sandwich board sign: "Don't Street Race. I Lost my Drivers License for 3 Years."

Orange Circuit Judge John H. Adams Sr. ordered Rivera, 24, of Kissimmee, to wear the sign as a deterrent to other racers.
>snip<

Along with losing his license and being placed on three years' probation, he has to wear the sign where he used to race: the Waterbridge Shopping Center parking lot near the Florida Mall.

Rivera will wear the two-sided 2- by 3-foot sign for 50 consecutive Sundays from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. He must also pay for the sign - about $372 - and attend driving school.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/02/State/He_ll_serve_as_human_.shtml

This guy had already served 107 days in jail, and is on 3 years probation, as well as losing his license for 3 years.

Street racing is a felony in Florida, so among the civil liberties he's been stripped of, he's lost his right to vote, too.

Personally, I think it will serve no positive purpose. Just thought I'd throw it out there and see what others think about it.

... is just like American Idol. Sometimes the result will be pleasant and sometimes it will not.

Personally, 107 days in jail and a 3 year suspension seems like pretty adequate punishment. but I'm not the judge.

but I had this flash of a vision of crowds of people walking around wearing billboards announcing their crimes.

I am a speeder.
I was convicted of jay-walking.
I was cited for my dog running loose.
I am a murderer.
I stole my neighbor's newspaper.

Doesn't it, at a certain point, just become laughable?

... like American Idol :)

and for what it's worth, I was cited for allowing my dog to run loose once.

The rascal dug under the fence and escaped. When the animal control people saw him, they told him to go home - then followed him when he obeyed. Said it works almost 100% of the time. Cost me 48$

but for anything else, it seems ridiculous.

the writing's on the wall.

Is he shooting a commercial for Levitra?:shrug:

What a fucking country.

Shame. Shame. Get thee to the town square.

"Oh, and Hester? - Pick out a letter and dig out that sewing kit."

the Scarlet Letter will be amusing. We can start with Dild O'Reilly and work from there.

And while we're busy rightwingnut-regressing in this country, will beheadings and burnings at the stake make a comeback? bush's bestest pals Saudi could train selected Americans in the art.

how archaic!

Fun to go back to the 1660's. Now if we just could get rid of the evil cats.

Isn't that the punishment inflicted on the American people every time Gee Dubya speaks?

It's a generational curse, too, I see; this punishment has been inflicted continuously from Joseph McCarthy through Reagan ("air pollution is caused by trees") through GHWB through Strom Thurmond and Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott and Tom Delay through the King of Humiliation himself, the Absolute Master, Satan's Jester, Mr. George Walker Bush.

on the planet.

man i just found a new business.

I saw a local news interview with Rivera. Surprisingly, he actually seemed almost happy about wearing the sign. Of course, that's mostly because he is viewing it as an alternative to prison (which the judge said he was going to send him to for 2 years). But, he talked about how he was going to turn this negative into a positive and give back to the community and save lives of kids by being an example.

I doubt that a whole lot of future street racers will decide not to do it because of this guy, but who knows?

Anyway, there are two separate questions here:

1) was 107 days in jail, 3 years probation and losing his license enough of a punishment for this guy and what he did? and
2) is the creative punishment better (e.g., kinder, more rehabilitative) than prison?

I think that the answer to #1 is "yes," give that Rivera didn't do any damage by racing. But, if the answer to #1 were "no," then I think that the answer to #2 is "yes."

I'm not surprised that he agreed to do this rather than stay in jail. Weighed against that alternative I'm pretty sure I'd be a walking billboard, too.

My brother got into some small town trouble (can't really remember, think it had to do with underage drinking) when he was 18. The judge gave him a choice, military or jail. He chose the army. Happened in 1969. Do they still do that?

for their actions in court. Which happens around here all the time. Sexual batteries, embezzlements, breaches of fiduciary responsibility. Happens all the time and the one that gets ostracized is the one that points it out.

Saturday :: July 31, 2004

Shame As Punishment

by TChris

A judge in Maryland views a sandwich board as the modern equivalent of a scarlet letter: shame as punishment.

A woman who stole $4.52 worth of fuel was ordered to stand outside the gas station Friday wearing a sandwich board sign that declared: "I was caught stealing gas."

One of the bystanders who watched the woman endure catcalls and blaring horns from passing cars asked the right question: "What is this, the Middle Ages?"
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/007436.html

---

Editorial: Sandwich-board justice

Sheehan's sentence pushes justice into the extremes.

Donald Varner had his choice: walk around the Kenton County Courthouse for two hours today carrying a sandwich-board type sign telling everyone of the crime he committed or serve 10 days in jail.

He chose to serve the time rather than wear the sign that was to proclaim to all: ''I was convicted of trying to buy sex in Covington.''

Wearing the sign was an alternative sentence imposed by District Judge Martin Sheehan. Initially, Varner was going to wear the sign but later changed his mind.
http://www.kypost.com/opinion/kedita020298.html

---

Los Angeles Times Sunday April 26, 1998

Bulldog Edition

Part A, Page 25

Type of Material: Wire

A drunken driver is ordered to carry in his wallet pictures of the people he killed. A wife-beater must apologize to his victim from the courthouse steps, with cameras rolling. A shoplifter is forced to pace outside the market from which she pilfered, wearing a huge sign that brands her a convicted thief.

It is justice by sandwich board, tearful apology and posted placard,

the modern versions of the stocks and scarlet letters of colonial times. A small but attention-getting group of judges across the United States, fed up with a revolving cast of drug buyers, drunk drivers, johns and shoplifters who never seem to get the message, has been sentencing criminals to shame. They hope public humiliation succeeds where jail habitually fails.

"I think this type of sentencing is important," says Ted Poe, a Harris County, Texas, district judge who has become nationally known for what he calls "public punishments."

"The people I see have too good a self-esteem," he says. "I want them to feel guilty about what they've done. I don't want 'em to leave the courthouse having warm fuzzies inside."
>snip<

Poe says that of the 59 shaming sentences he's given out in the past three years, he knows of only two offenders who have been arrested again. Poe's interest in humiliating criminals started when he sentenced a man who had beaten his wife. "It was obvious she was embarrassed by his conduct and he was not embarrassed by his conduct," says the judge. He forced the man both to serve jail time and to apologize to his wife in public.

"After he did that," says Poe, "he was humiliated, and he didn't like it at all."
http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/pletcher/sl2/latimes.htm

If a parent disciplines his child with shame (hanging the wet bed sheets out the window for all to see, for example) the child isn't going to learn a thing except to hate what authority can do.

Reminds me very much of the stocks people were put in back in the old days.

I much prefer fines, community service, and jail time if nothing else works.

I'm not surprised that the perp is happy with this sentence. Sociopaths have no conscience, hence, feel no shame although they know how to make all the right noises. It's a great way to get out of jail early and, as a bonus, he gets all sorts of attention drawn to himself. Pretending to be "oh so humiliated" is just a game they play.

I wouldn't call it punishment exactly. But if the judge wants to make this guy a TV star in his own mind, then whatever.

We know from training animals that what you give your attention to increases. If the judge thinks anything is going to be "learned" from this except, "whoa, I can get a lot of attention and pity points," he is very naive about human nature.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

a parent shaming a child for something he/she can't help is, of course, not effective. On the other hand, making a child go apologize to someone from whom he stole something is disciplining with shame, and that can be very effective.

:shrug:

I also prefer fines and community service when possible. But, I think that the punishment in Rivera's case is much better and likely to be much more effective than prison (whether or not Rivera deserved prison for street racing is another question).

In a broader context, this type of "creative" punishment might be better and more effective than prison for a whole host of "minor" crimes. Mostly, that's because prison is so awful. Being in prison and enduring the stuff that happens to people there is much more humiliating, much more degrading, much longer lasting and much less rehabilitative than standing on a corner with a sign.

In this state, a second DUI convictions gets you a special, orange license plate when drivings rights are eventually restored. I don't know for how long, being somewhat unfamiliar with driving offenses.

At some point the public has to decide if it is serious about road safety. If this sort of thing deters others (and I believe it does) then I am all for it. Anyway, since the alternative in this sandwich board case is a prison sentence, it is hard to imagine it being worse than that.

Certainly it is a small percentage that have them, but there are enough to notice one or two every week.

I don't exactly know when they are required. I prosecute felonies and am not so familiar with motor vehicle offenses.