Public Shaming In US Prisons

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A man who once called a police officer a pig was later sentenced to spend time in a pigpen, according to the article “Shame punishments: cheaper and more effective than jail, or a mockery of the justice system?”, and along with him were many other uses of shame punishments, such as wearing chicken suits, or spending the night in the woods. In contrast with the past, public shaming is progressing. Public shaming is a judicial punishment imposed on a convicted criminal that includes humiliation in public, instead of imprisonment. Many judges of closer courts are introducing this type of solution to minor or repetitive crimes. This however is causing a controversy between citizens underneath the judicial system, and the cases that occur in district …show more content…
“U.S. prisons are costly and overcrowded” (Text 2, Line 1) the U.S. cannot afford to be holding as many prisoners as it currently does. The Land of the Free has 5% of the world's population, and 25% of that percentage are in prison. In 2010, federal, state, and local agencies spent a combined $80 billion on corrections, or $260 per U.S. resident, which when calculated into today’s dollars is increased to 87 billion. Public shaming however, is an alternative for the people who have had minor incidents and are then incarcerated and paid for by the government, taxpayers, etc. “In counties where a use of shame punishments is used more often, they saw reductions in drunk driving” (Text 1, Lines 11-12) With the reduction of drunk driving, less people were placed in prison, causing an …show more content…
Painesville Municipal court judge, Michael Cicconetti, believes that the use of public shaming has “been very successful. You do not see the repeat offenders. Some have never came back” (Text 1, Lines 24-26) Cicconetti believes this because of his many years of working in law and using effective shame punishments, and is also known as “The Pioneer of Public Shaming punishments” (Text 1, lines 16-17) Another judge, of Harris County, Texas, Ted Poe, states “That out of the 59 shaming punishments he’s given out in the past three years, he knows of only two that have been arrested again.” (Text 4, Lines 20-21) Both Judge Michael Cicconetti, Ted Poe, and many others agree that the use of Shame punishments is more effective for minor crimes that are often repeated and never treated in time with incarceration; this is due to their own trials with full-proof data displaying that public shaming is viable. “If you were sentenced to five years in prison for whatever you did or didn’t do, and the judge gave you the choice of lashes instead, what would you pick? Almost everyone would choose the lashes, but we don’t allow that because we consider it cruel and unusual. But if it’s better than prison, what does that say about the system we have?” (Text 2, Lines 29-32) In this central question, one is asked to choose between the system the U.S.
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