17Th Century Punishment In The 20Th Century

17th Century Punishment in the 20th Century

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 courthousesteps, 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, tearfulapology 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 revolvingcast 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 toogood 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."

Daniel Alvin of Riceboro, Ga., didn't. Hewas convicted of theft for running a bogus fund-raising scheme in 1996. Rather than spend six months in jail, Alvin chose a judge's alternative, which required him to walk through a square next to theLiberty County courthouse wearing a sandwich board that declared: "I AM A CONVICTED THIEF."

It was a choice he may now regret. Alvin was so frustrated by the attention his sentence drew that herecently hung up on a reporter who called to ask about it. "You don't know how many reporters have harassed me over this," Alvin said when called a second time. "It's over. I just put it behind me."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...