Public Shame: Different, But Effective Punishment

Growing up, all my mom wanted for me was to learn from my mistakes. In the judiciary system, most judges have that same intention: for criminals to learn and prevent a crime from happening again. One way that judges implement these lessons is through public shaming. Though it is odd, public shaming is an effective punishment that should be used.

Public shaming can prevent an overflow of inmates in prison. Some crimes, such as minor theft and driving violations, only deserve a minor punishment. Minor criminals shouldn’t be sentenced to prison, but those who have committed extreme crimes should. Another benefit of public shaming is the lessons that it teaches criminals. Public shaming makes criminals feel embarrassed, and the embarrassment prevents the criminal from repeating the same crime. It also teaches lessons to communities. Hundreds of people will walk down the same street and witness the public shaming. They’ll learn from the criminal’s mistakes and won’t commit the crime.

Overall, public shaming is a unique punishment that has multiple benefits. It saves room in prison, and it teaches lessons to many people. Any punishment that results in a lesson learned is a good punishment no matter how minor or severe the punishment was. Public shaming is effective, and it is rightfully used.

Shame’s Gray Area

When discussing the best punishment for perpetrators of minor crimes, there’s a lot of grey area. What is the best moral punishment that will prevent criminals from convicting crimes again? When does a punishment cross the line between moral and immoral? Though I believe that public shaming is an appropriate punishment, I sometimes find myself in the grey area regarding the topic.

Originally, I strongly believed that public shaming as a punishment was a great idea. Not only does public shaming provide monetary benefits, but it also teaches many lessons. However, in my time learning more about the topic, my opinions shifted, and I found myself confused about what I believed. In the essay “Condemn the Crime, Not the Person,” psychology educator and researcher June Tangney suggests that public shaming brings about feelings of shame, rather than feelings of guilt. In shame, one feels that they are a bad person, while in guilt, one feels bad for what they have done. It is easier to change action than it is to change character. Tangney’s reasoning suggests that public shaming is ineffective.

However, Harvard law graduate Dan M. Kahan suggests otherwise in his essay “Shame is Worth a Try.” Kahan believes that peoples’ reputations play an important role in their lives, making public shaming effective. Kahan also points out the flaws in other punishments. Kahan claims, “Fines seem to say that criminals may buy the privilege of breaking the law,” and he also points out how using community service as a punishment is insulting to those who do it out of the goodness of their hearts.

One would think that knowing more about a topic would help form a stronger opinion. However, for me, learning more about public shaming put me more in the grey area. I still believe that public shaming is effective, but I take a milder stance in that belief. There are many valid arguments as to how public shaming is effective or ineffective, and it all depends on how you look at it. Shame doesn’t trigger the right emotion to initiate change, but it can also ruin one’s reputation, making it effective. All punishments have controversy regarding their effectiveness. One criminal might come out of jail and never commit a crime again. Another criminal might finish his or her sentence and immediately commit the same crime again. The effectiveness of punishments depends on the person convicted and what is lifechanging to his or her eyes. Public shaming might not be effective for all criminals, but the judiciary system should continue using it because it is effective for some.

Not Ashamed of Shaming

The concept of public shaming has much controversy and many valid points on both sides. Some might strongly support public shaming, while others might oppose it. Originally, I took a strong stance in support of public shaming. As I learned more about both the supporting side and the opposing side, I found my beliefs still in support of public shaming, but they were milder and in the gray area. I had an understanding that any punishment will be successful to some but incompetent to others. To conclusively pick a stance, I took an in-depth look into public shaming. I needed to know the answers to the following questions: What is the efficiency of public shaming? What makes it successful? To whom is it successful for?

To start, public shaming has proven effective for many judges. Painesville, Ohio Judge Michael Cicconetti claims that public shaming punishments continue to be used all over the country only because they have seen success. But how is this success measured? For many judges, success is measured by how many criminals are convicted again. For district judge Ted Poe of Harris County, Texas, only two out of 59 offenders that he sentenced to public shaming were put in jail again. Putnam County, Fla. Judge Peter Miller has sentenced public shaming to over 600 offenders, and only three of those offenders reconvicted the same crime. With numbers this low, it is no surprise why public shaming is still being used. Not only is public shaming successful in the eyes of some judges, but it’s also successful in the eyes of some criminals. In Harris County, Texas, Judge Poe had sentenced a thief to wear a sign explaining his wrongdoings outside of the store he stole from. The offender was shamed in the eyes of mothers and their children. Later on, he wrote a letter to Judge Poe and claimed that public shaming was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He had felt the effects of public shaming, and it encouraged him to change his character and his life.

Continuing off of the same story, public shaming was successful in that situation because the offender experienced disgrace and was unable to escape the disapproval from the public. Most people care about their reputations and to some, a ruined reputation and disapproval from everyone around is equivalent to failure. Some might say that shame can harm one’s dignity, but Vincent J. Schodolski, a newspaper journalist who’s interviewed many law experts argues otherwise. Schodolski argues that public shaming punishments are attempts at life-changing educational experiences that allow offenders to see the harm their wrongdoings caused or could’ve caused. This is what is needed to initiate change in a person, making shaming successful. Shame might be associated with negativity, but it can have positive effects. Thom Brooks, an American philosopher and author of “Shame On You, Shame On Me? Nussbaum on Shame Punishment” in the Journal of Applied Philosophy, claims that shame is the feeling of falling short on a standard that we set for ourselves. However, the pain of shame pushes us towards self-improvement. Shame is powerful and moving enough to push a criminal towards becoming a better person who makes better decisions and is less harmful to others.

Public shaming might not be the right punishment for all criminals, but it shouldn’t be untarnished because it is effective and life-changing to some. To some, public shaming isn’t a harsh enough punishment, but to convicts of very mild crimes, public shaming is enough to get their attention and convince them to never commit the crime again. Public shaming has proven successful for those who care about their reputation. Most people don’t like to be shamed in front of people they know, for even some thieves get embarrassed. Public shaming could also prove successful for those who don’t learn from jail. Some inmates get put in jail, get out, and commit crimes again. However, public shaming results in different emotions that teach criminals different lessons.

All in all, thorough research has proven that public shaming is of good reasoning, intention, and cause. It initiates change and has proven successful and lifechanging for many. Though it might not be the right punishment for all, it is still valuable to some and shouldn’t be completely abandoned.

From Shaming to Saving

Shame is often associated with feelings of negativity. It goes hand in hand with humiliation and embarrassment, but shame is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, public shaming has proven to be a worthwhile punishment for criminals. The main purpose of punishing a criminal is for the criminal to learn a lesson, and using public shaming as a punishment serves its purpose.

Public shaming can push one towards self-improvement; thus, it can save criminals from going down the wrong path again. The powerful emotions that public shaming inflicts can stick with a person even after the punishment has been completed. Some criminals don’t want to experience that humiliation or embarrassment again, so they won’t commit the same crime again. Public shaming can also land criminals as the center of attention in the eyes of mothers and their innocent children. It allows criminals to see the havoc or harm that they have caused and its impact on the lives of others and learn from their consequences.

Everybody learns in different ways, so different punishments will be effective for different people. For example, jail isn’t effective for everyone. Some might go into jail, come out, and never commit a second offense. Others might go to jail, come out, and commit a second offense right away. Though no punishments have a 100% success rate, we continue to use these punishments because of the people they are effective for. Many judges have seen a drop in second offenders because of public shaming. Public shaming might not be effective for all criminals, but it has proven effective to some, so shouldn’t we continue to use it?