2008 Woodie Awards
Humiliation Is An Apt Teacher
Offenders won't soon forget lessons learned with a dose of degradation.
Emil Eshaya
Issue date: 9/29/04 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Let the punishment fit the crime was the message from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco early last month.
Admitted thief Shawn Gementera was slapped with an unorthodox sentence after he was convicted of stealing checks from mailboxes. Gementera was ordered to stand in front of a San Francisco post office wearing a sign that said: "I stole mail. This is my punishment."
The courts said the unusual sentence was handed down for the purpose of rehabilitation and not merely public humiliation.
Critics say that this punishment was dehumanizing and far too reminiscent of the days when a few hours at the whipping post was an ideal punishment.
Humbug.
Humiliation is an inexpensive alternative to prison for most who commit nonviolent crimes. In 2001, 51 percent of sentenced state inmates had been incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, according to Bureau of Justice statistics.
That same year, the cost of medical care for inmates topped $3.3 billion. A sizeable amount, but equal to only 12 percent of the total yearly expenditures for all state prisoners.
Today, judges either go overboard with punishment or thoughtlessly hand out the mildest of penalties.
Convicts either spend 20 years in prison at the cost of taxpayers or 20 hours in a public library re-shelving Shakespeare.
Cash fines put a temporary dent in pocket books. Public humiliation puts a permanent dent on reputations.
There's nothing wrong with a good dose of humiliation. We all need to know that doing whatever we please is not OK.
We all need a healthy fear of the judicial system.
Perfect justice means every punishment fits the crime committed. Until perfect comes outside to play, we'll continue to sweep undeserving people into prisons while those deserving of something more than a slap on the hand get swept under the carpet.
Failure to organize mandatory shame punishment for nonviolent crime means our nation will suffer.
Eventually, sex offenders will become elementary school teachers while ex-gang members won't even be hired to clean the hallways.
We should admit that correcting criminal behavior is not as effective as it should be and change things.
Until this society can admit that justice in this country is a wave that most people don't catch, we're hopeless.
Admitted thief Shawn Gementera was slapped with an unorthodox sentence after he was convicted of stealing checks from mailboxes. Gementera was ordered to stand in front of a San Francisco post office wearing a sign that said: "I stole mail. This is my punishment."
The courts said the unusual sentence was handed down for the purpose of rehabilitation and not merely public humiliation.
Critics say that this punishment was dehumanizing and far too reminiscent of the days when a few hours at the whipping post was an ideal punishment.
Humbug.
Humiliation is an inexpensive alternative to prison for most who commit nonviolent crimes. In 2001, 51 percent of sentenced state inmates had been incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, according to Bureau of Justice statistics.
That same year, the cost of medical care for inmates topped $3.3 billion. A sizeable amount, but equal to only 12 percent of the total yearly expenditures for all state prisoners.
Today, judges either go overboard with punishment or thoughtlessly hand out the mildest of penalties.
Convicts either spend 20 years in prison at the cost of taxpayers or 20 hours in a public library re-shelving Shakespeare.
Cash fines put a temporary dent in pocket books. Public humiliation puts a permanent dent on reputations.
There's nothing wrong with a good dose of humiliation. We all need to know that doing whatever we please is not OK.
We all need a healthy fear of the judicial system.
Perfect justice means every punishment fits the crime committed. Until perfect comes outside to play, we'll continue to sweep undeserving people into prisons while those deserving of something more than a slap on the hand get swept under the carpet.
Failure to organize mandatory shame punishment for nonviolent crime means our nation will suffer.
Eventually, sex offenders will become elementary school teachers while ex-gang members won't even be hired to clean the hallways.
We should admit that correcting criminal behavior is not as effective as it should be and change things.
Until this society can admit that justice in this country is a wave that most people don't catch, we're hopeless.
