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Another defendant opts for a notable shaming sanction to avoid jail time

By Douglas A. Berman

A helpful reader pointed me to this notable local story from Wisconsin, headlined "Man Chooses To Hold 'I Was Stupid' Sign Instead of Jail Time."  Here are the details:A judge gives a man a choice: Spend time in jail or hold a sign saying "I was stupid." Wednesday, he made that choice.  He decided he'll hold the sign. We talked to the judge known for his strange sentences.  Judge Paul Lenz says over the years, he's handed out 20 or so similar sentences.  But, he says for the most part, the criminals pass and choose to sit out their sentences rather than face public humiliation.  They read "I was stupid," "I?m a thief," and "I stole from the families of the dead." They're all options to reduce jail time...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on October 10, 2008 (boomark / email).