As an isolated case, the story would just amuse me, but this is becoming a trend in Ohio. As I started to think about this shift in punishment philosophy, more examples came to mind. There are pizza parlors around the state that are placing deadbeat dads picture’s on pizza boxes. When you’re driving around town you’ll notice drivers with the yellow DUI Party Plates. It also use to be common practice to publish hookers and clients names and addresses in the Cincinnati Enquire upon arrest. Did I miss some foreshadowing when the Dayton Band picked the name Hawthorne Heights because they saw that we are living in the present day State where our symbolic Scarlet Letter is dotted with a high stepping tuba player?Is there some correlation to the effectiveness of public humiliation as a prohibiting factor to committing a crime? Today’s billboards are serving as the current day stockades. Is there a belief that deadbeat dads so concerned with their image that public embarrassment will force them to change their ways? (From the pictures they showed on TV, public image is not something they hold with high regard.) In an age of Jerry Springer and YouTube, exposing someone’s flaws is no longer a deterrent…. it’s an avenue to a small degree of celebrity.
Our court system needs to leverage their power in society to correct the misdeeds of its citizens. Garnish the wages of those that don’t support their families (and if they don’t work, how are they buying pizza)? If someone can’t drive in an acceptable state of mind, force them to surrender their driver’s license and lower insurance premium until they decide not to put others in harms way. I long for a practical link between crime and punishment.
If Party Plates continue to be used as deterrent to drinking and driving can’t they at least make them florescent so they show up better at night?
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