An odd punishment for stealing...

Today in the news I saw this article:

Woman ordered to wear sign declaring her crime
SALISBURY, Maryland (AP) -- A woman who stole $4.52 worth of fuel was ordered to stand outside the gas station Friday wearing a sandwich board sign that declared: "I was caught stealing gas."

Sherelle Purnell obeyed the court order, although by the time she arrived 90 minutes late to her noon sentence, the crowd of people that gathered to watch her had dispersed.

"There were parents who came with their children, wanting to teach them a lesson," said Jan Phipps, manager of Gordy's Tiger Mart, which pushed for the unorthodox punishment. Purnell, 18, who was caught on surveillance tape speeding away from the gas pump, walked along the convenience shop's grassy storefront as passing drivers honked horns and made catcalls.

Andrew Black, who stopped by on his lunch break, was critical of the punishment and converted an old beer poster into a sign protesting high gas prices. "What is this, the Middle Ages?" said Black. Purnell declined to comment.

Some passers-by considered the punishment to be a good deterrent. "Embarrassment is the best way to deal with these things," Randy Jedlicka said.

Ya know, parents brought their kids by to see the punishment, and this is supposed to be a good thing. What is it supposed to be teaching kids? What is a kid going to think after seeing something like this?

Consider this little scenario... A kid is with a parent in the grocery store. It's busy. The kid, say around 10 years old, decides he really can't help himself, that big hunk of chocolate in the nice shiny wrapper looks good enough to eat. Unfortunatly that means stealing it. So he does. The parent, always mindful of the whereabouts of the child, is fully aware of what the child is doing. After bringing it to the child's attention, she decides to stand there with her child by the hand and declare to everyone within earshot that the kid is a thief. Everyone looks of course, and of course none of this escapes the the attention of the kid. That'll teach em!!

What is an incident like this going to teach a kid? At best the confidence of the kid will be diminished, and with it any self esteem. Even worse the kid will get the idea that it's ok to ridicule others, and will do so at every available opportunity. Kids learn quickly, and this kid will learn that this is a good way to divert attention from him/herself, attention that might otherwise uncover the degraded self confidence and self esteem that is now part of the kid's character.

In my opinion the judge that ordered this is an ignoramus and shouldn't be on the bench.