The Importance Of Public Shaming

The purpose of this essay is to examine the strengths and weaknesses of Braithwaite’s reintegrative shaming theory. This will be accomplished by providing a description of the theory before examining the literature surrounding its strengths and weaknesses. The strengths of the theory surround its novel concepts, utility amongst academics and its policy implications. On the contrary, the weaknesses of the theory surround its limited empirical evidence, its ambiguous terminology and its impracticability towards certain offences and certain offenders.

In her article, “Condemn the Crime, Not the Person,” June Tangney argues that shaming causes more harm than good. She focuses on alternatives to traditional sentences instead of shaming and incarceration. As a more recent trend, officials are using shaming sentences more and more. Tangney states that it is important to know the distinction between shame and guilt. Tangney states, that research has shown feeling of guilt “involve a sense of tension and regret over the bad thing done.” Guilt makes people feel bad. It makes them want to change their behavior whereas shame does not motivate people to feel better and they are less likely to stop their wrong behavior (577). She also states that scientific evidence suggested publicly shaming a person makes a problem instead of creating a constructive change in them and individuals may hide and escape the shameful feelings and try to blame others (577). In conclusion, Tangney suggest community service as a sentence for offenders to pay their debt to society for their wrongdoing, been linked to the crime they did. Her tone is informative and innovative and keeps the reader interested while reading. However, this article displays weakness in term of the evidence the author presents, it is one sided and does not provide evidence her suggestion for community service as a sentence option works. Therefore, it fails to persuade the reader.

Society puts pressure on citizens to conform to their standards of what is normal, however, when one obeys the toxicness that is expected, they lose their individualism and change who they truly are. It is not any different in Hester Prynne’s situation in the historical fiction novel, The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of an adulteress, who is forced to wear the letter “A” upon her chest to represent her sin, and her daughter, a constant reminder of what she has done. Although a puritan community demands a society to conform, Hester Prynne continues doing what is not expected and living her individual life even after being forced to hold a symbol of shame, ultimately illustrating the importance of being a nonconformist.

In “The Problem with Public Shaming,” an essay that first appeared in the Nation, Stryker argues against the form of public shaming promoted by online networks and how people have figured out a way to deal with crimes but not with social media. Stryker introduced the essay’s subject matter through social media examples, while reflecting on past experiences and stating important details that reinforce the subject of public shaming as well as “dox” and discusses this term throughout the essay. Stryker helps define the term “dox” by listing the common traits and information “doxxers” try to gather, which include—name, phone number, address, social security and financial

It’s common to argue that a perpetrator “deserves” to be shamed, but in fact human psychology doesn’t work this way. Many pedophiles, for instance, recognize that that they are inexorably—even biologically—bound to impulses that they themselves loathe. Does the shaming—through public registries for example—cause the pedophile to reform? Unlikely. Does it deter others from engaging in pedophilic acts, or does it drive them to darker corners and sneakier tactics?

Most people believe that public humiliation is cruel and unusual punishment, yet it seems to be the only thing working. Doxxing is when you take someone's personal info -info such as social security numbers or address- and post it for the world to see. Some people still see doxxing as ineffective and just flat out wrong as discussed Cole Stryker in “The Problem with Public Shaming” written in The Nation, Stryker notions that public shaming doesn't work and that people need to talk about its effects on people all around the world. Stryker discusses how doxxing and Scarlet Letters are one in the same and are equally bad to do, he even “And when it slithers its tentacles in a person’s life, we become desperate for some way to fight back—to

Shame punishment should not be encouraged in our society because it leads to poor self esteem in young people and overshadows true justice. Overshadowing justice: -doesn't teach discipline with laws -isn't always severe enough -doesn't always work with everyone, as some people don't care what others think Poor self esteem: makes young people feel humiliated and angry Psychologists say it isn't beneficial to self esteem of kids Creates opportunity for bullying TASK 3 Nathaniel Hawthorne About Hawthorne: 1. Where was Hawthorne born?

As terrible as public humiliation may sound, the twenty-first century has manifested public shame to be a symbol of status. The theory is that there is no such thing as bad attention, the more people talk, the more recognition that person receives. The whole culture is centered around the people with the most attention, good or bad. As a result, many celebrities rely on exploitation in order to attract the attention of the public, for example Kim Kardashian’s leaked sex tape with famous rapper, Ray J, led to her ultimate rise in social status (Massey). This whole idea of benefiting from shame parallels to the Puritan ideals expressed in The Scarlet Letter.

Second, getting publicly shamed can affect he/she professionally since he/she’s reputation gets completely torn to shreds. Justine Sacco a former communications director had tweeted out a horrible racial stereotype which brought back much negative attention. “She deleted her entire social footprint online, including her Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and she was fired from her job, effective 12 hours earlier” (Bilton 6). This quote alludes to how since all the hate and shame she received, the company she worked for didn’t want her anymore. Her whole career was ruined because of one mistake she cannot fix, this shows how because of all the shame and hate, her reputation as well as her career were both gone. Back to the Monica Lewinsky shaming she also was affected professionally. “ In 1998, I lost my reputation and my dignity. I almost lost everything, and I almost lost my life” (Lewinsky 12). This shows how public shaming could ruin ones career and reputation. These women both committed a mistake and got harassed

Public shaming is a highly debated and broad topic. First what is public shaming? “Public shaming(humiliation) is the dishonoring showcase of a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of punishment in former times, and is still practiced by different means in the modern era(Wikipedia).” Public shaming is usually used as the primary form of punishment. It can destroy someones life within hours with the use of social media. “Once embarrassing information about a person is online, it’s never going to go away.(Stryker)” Public shaming is a brutal form of punishment and has a strong argument that it should no longer be used because of the repercussions it could have on ones life,

“Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change”(Brené Brown). In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman is publicly shamed for having a child with a man who is not her husband. Another example of public shame can be seen in modern day articles “Florida ‘Scarlet Letter’ Law is Repealed by Gov. Bush,” by Dana Canedy, and “Houston Couple Gets ‘The Scarlet Letter’ Treatment.” Both talk of public shame that people have had to endure in the present day. Public shaming is not an effective punishment because it is a cruel and unusual punishment, it does not deter crime, and it can emotionally traumatize the one being shamed.

“Remember when what is now called publicity was called public shame and humiliation?” (P.J. O’Rourke). The act of public shaming has been around for centuries shifting from scaffold gatherings to hateful social media posts. This tradition being kept alive after all of this time is used purely for the profit of the shamer. With each post comes more agony and dread for the person being shamed and more enjoyment to the people shaming. This vicious cycle has not changed much from the onlookers at the scaffold to the bystanders of social media who do nothing but allow for this tradition to keep growing. The age-old tradition of public shame has become like reality show engaging people in the dire consequences of the person being shamed and their growing feelings of desolation.

The culture of societal shame is a very powerful force. And you don't just shame yourself. You shame your family, your friends, your community, and your business colleagues.

have expanded to the entire world. Over time public shaming has changed for the worse; it used

In every country in the world there are certain levels of shaming that every society has, where some countries have extreme shame than others. Shaming is form of criticism and judgement when an individual violates social or moral norms. Shaming fundamentally reacts our psychological need for acceptance and approval from either someone or the public. It is true that for centuries, shame has been given a negative name, but there is reason why shame has existed for a long time and why it will continue to exist in the future. Shaming should be part of society since it brings order and control, it causes people to reflect their wrong doing, and it creates a positive change that affects everyone. Shaming should be part of the society since shaming, most of the time, brings positive results.