Miscellaneous

Awesome

Judge Paul Lenz likes to humiliate folks. Over his time on the bench, he's given about 20 criminal defendants the chance to face public humiliation to save themselves some time in the clink. But most take the jail option. Shane McQuillan, however, went with humiliation. Facing charges for drunkenly ramming his car into a water treatment plant's gate, Judge Lenz gave him a simple choice: sit in jail, or head out with an "I was stupid" sign.

"It's a difficult thing to do if you think about it for yourself. It's basically a public acknowledgment that what you did was wrong and that's difficult for people to do," Judge Lenz says. "It's also for others who might think about doing that type of behavior to think about."

(Hat tip to Supreme Dicta and, yes Harlan, it is indeed too bad that this story doesn't come from Sheboygan.)

Full post as published by Quiz Law on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).