Essay On Puritan Punishment

In society things can change; they can improve or worsen, but they will never be completely over and gone. We can take Puritan punishments as an example. Throughout the years there has been laws passed to stop cruel punishments, but other types of punishments have been introduced such as "[wearing] a large sing publicizing [the] crime...[and wearing] tap shoes in public" (Willing). Public punishments that were popular in Puritan times are continuing today. In the article "From "Scarlet Letter" to 1995, Americans want criminals to suffer shame with punishment" the author Rob McManamy states, "Demi Moore's Hester Prynne in 'The Scarlet Letter' is condemned to wear a big red 'A' as punishment for her adultery. These days, Hester might be required to wear a T-shirt saying 'I am an adulterer'." Punishments have not completely vanished, they are just continuing in a different way. Public
In today's society most people that commit crimes no longer care if they get punished or not so there is no use for public punishments. Publicly punishing someone that does not care is a waste of time. If a criminal cared about the consequences of a crime they would not commit them. In the article "Shaming criminals: a good idea? - using shaming to punish criminals" the author states that critics of public shaming say, "'How can you shame the unashamed?'" You can not punish someone that does not regret what they did. I quote from attorney David Lamos in "Shaming criminals: a good idea? - using shaming to punish criminals" says, "'People act responsibly when they have good self-esteem. Ridicule doesn't teach self-esteem'… 'All shaming will do is make somebody resentful and angry.'" Criminals need to go to prison not be shamed, shaming will not affect their actions and what they continue doing. Judges should find new approaches other than public