what a nice decision by china Court: Begins 'public shaming' for overdue fines ....!!!!

A court in China has started naming and shaming people who don't pay fines by showing their images on a giant screen outside a major train station.

 

I wonder how effective that is?

 

Not only in changsha the court do that.

 

Do they keep showing them until the fines are paid off? Seem excessive. I can't imagine anything like that happening in the US, but you never know. Some day you will be walking through the mall and your little daughter will say: "Hey, daddy, look your face is on the big screen! And it's not smiling!"

 

There has been some of this type of thing here in the U.S. The local media will run names of the johns arrested in prostitution sweeps. Dads delinquent on child support payments have also been listed in the newspapers. I believe that Boston and Massachusetts publish lists of the largest tax deadbeats. There are also constant stories about court defendants being forced to hold signs in public, such as this:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...laring-bully-penalty-unfair-article-1.1755252

Holding a sign on a street corner in your town might actually be worse than being up on the big screen.

 

But would you say it's a bit different? It's one thing when the local media slams someone for unpaid child support (or whatever), it's a different story when it's done on the government level. If the court OKs that type of "shaming", where are you going to go to defend your rights?

 

Well, it is the government and/or courts that were the cause of all of the things that I listed above because they published lists of the Top 10 or 20 offenders specifically so that the press would pick it up. They also publish this information on government websites. A modern version of what was done with stockades and other public shaming in the Colonial period.

 

@jrbiz this is still different. Imagine if, let's say, the whole state of Massachusetts would start showing on large screens (at the local malls, train stations, etc.) the profiles of people who happened to be delinquent on their mortgages. It wouldn't fly. And that's the point I am trying to make (not that it's not being done in the US at all. It's done more tactfully, I guess).

 

How viable that would be strongly depends on each country and the mentality of its inhabitants. As Sarah pointed out, this can lead to one of several reactions. I know for a fact that people in Bulgaria will not care that much for such a "shaming".

I can't quite grasp the idea of those screens situated in train stations. While I can understand the idea of more people seeing it (not really here with the level of the Bulgarian Railway Transport) isn't this the place where many people come and go and there is a very low chance any of those will meet you in person, let alone recognize you. Its like going on a vacation abroad you are more inclined in trying new and wild things exactly with the assumption that those people will probably never see you again or recognize you for your crazy doings. Can't really see the whole idea sticking

 

We can go around on this, I suppose. Let's say millions of people saw your face on the stadium signs, I am not sure how much that would affect you personally as you would never run into a significant percentage of the people and most would forget quickly, anyway. However, if you are standing on a street corner in your neighborhood and 50 - 100 of your neighbors see you, they will likely remember and you will likely run into them regularly. All this said, neither option is very attractive and both are strong actions taken by governments or courts.