Shame is making a comeback in punishment, says Dan Kahan, Assistant Professor in the University of Chicago Law School. He says recognizing society's need to condemn people who break the law is the first step toward making alternative sentences to imprisonment work now.
Shame has the power to condemn.
The return to shame is not a development to regret, but an opportunity to seize. Courts have increasingly incorporated an element of shame into their sentences that don't include jail time. They are yours. Requiring thieves to wear T-shirts or brightly colored bracelets announcing their crimes. Kahan says courts are using shaming penalties for crimes such as drunk driving, petty theft, embezzlement, assault, burglary, perjury, toxic-waste dumping and drug distribution.