More on the shame game

Thanks to this post by Dan Markel at PrawfsBlawg, I see that Jonathan Turley had published in Sunday's Washington Post this interesting commentary which is highly critical of shaming punishments.  Many of Turley's arguments against shaming punishments, like those of Dan previously noted here, are forceful.  But, as I have said before, given the questionable efficacy of our traditional approaches to punishment and our over-reliance on incarceration (background here), I am quite open to greater use of alternative punishments, including mild shaming sanctions, especially when they are imposed in lieu of an extended imprisonment term.

Interestingly, Turley's commentary asserts that there is "no evidence that creative sentences work better at deterring crime than other punishments."  I am suspect of this broad claim, especially since, as detailed in this recent article, judges who employ creative shaming sentences often contend based on their own anecdotal experiences that such punishments can be more effective than traditional incarceration.  Some thoughtful work in this area distinguishes bewteen reintegrative shaming and stigmatizing shaming, although Turley seems to be arguing against all forms of shaming punishments.

Below are links to some prior posts in which shaming punishments are discussed and debated:

• For Shame ... I mean, Against Shame
• Reconsidering shame
• Ain't that a shame
• Creative (and effective?) shaming
• A shame-full proposal
• Shaming, remorse, apologies and victims