Public humiliation was often used by local communities to punish minor and petty criminals before the age of large, modern
prisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s (imprisonment was long unusual as a punishment, rather a method of coercion).
Shameful exposure
This involved a variety of methods, most often placing a criminal in the center of town and having the local populace enact a form of "mob justice" on the individual. The punishment of public humiliation could be, amongst other things, an offender being forced to relate his crime, such as by exaggerated physical parody: a 'shame
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
' for a bad musician or a wearing giant
rosaryThe rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
for someone late to church. The offender could alternatively be sentenced to remain exposed in a specific public place, in a restraining device.
The arsenal in the
Low CountriesThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
included the ("Chair of shame"), the or ("pole of shame", a simple type of
pilloryThe pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal...
), the , customary for
adulteressesAdultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, and the , a scaffolding which one is kicked off to land in
mudMud is a mixture of water and some combination of soil, silt, and clay. Ancient mud deposits harden over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone . When geological deposits of mud are formed in estuaries the resultant layers are termed bay muds...
and dirt).
In the more extreme cases being subjected to verbal and physical abuse from the crowd, which could have serious consequences especially when the hands are not free to protect himself. Some sentences actually prescribe additional humiliation, such as shaving, or combine it with painful corporal punishments, see below.
In
Colonial AmericaThe colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
, common forms of public humiliation were the
stocksStocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...
and
pilloryThe pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal...
, imported from
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Nearly every sizable town had such instruments of public humiliation, usually at the town square. Historic public humiliation displays can still be seen in the historic
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
town of
Colonial WilliamsburgColonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
.
In pre–World War Japan, adulterers were publicly exposed purely to shame them.
In recent times, judicial use of public humiliation punishment has largely fallen out of favor since the practice is now considered
cruel and unusual punishmentCruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person...
, which is outlawed in the
United States ConstitutionThe Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. Yet, this is not clearly defined, so some judges do use shaming as a form of punishment, whereby an individual may have to parade in public with a sign explaining their behavior and misdeed.
Just like painful forms of corporal punishment, it has parallels in educational and other rather private punishments (but with some audience), in school or domestic disciplinary context, and as a
rite of passageA rite of passage is a ritual event that marks a person's progress from one status to another. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
. Physical forms include being forced to wear some sign such as
donkey ears (simulated in paper, as a sign one is—or at least behaved—proverbially stupid), wearing a
Dunce capA dunce cap, also variously known as a dunce hat, dunce's cap, or dunce's hat, is a pointed hat. In popular culture, it is typically made of paper and often marked with a D or the word "dunce", and given to schoolchildren to wear as punishment by public humiliation for misbehavior and, as the name...
, having to stand, kneel or bend over in a corner, or repeatedly write something on a blackboard ("I will not spread rumors", for example). Here too physical discomfort or even pain can be added, such as having to hold heavy objects or kneeling on an uneven surface. Like physical punishment and harsh hazing, these have become controversial in most modern societies, in many cases leading to legal restrictions and/or (sometimes voluntary) abolishment.
Having the head shavedHead shaving is the practice of shaving the hair from a person's head. At different times and places people have shaved their heads for very diverse reasons: practical, religious, cultural, or aesthetic—so a shaven head has widely varying connotations depending on the context.-Early...
can be a humiliating punishment prescribed in law, but also something done as "mob justice" - a stark example of which was the thousands of European women who had their heads shaved in front of cheering crowds in the wake of World War II, as punishment for associating with occupying
NazisNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
during the war.
Public humiliation is still practised a lot in the present time, not as a legal punishment, but more informally by the press and media.
Painful humiliation
Apart from specific methods essentially aiming at humiliation, several methods combine pain and humiliation or even death and humiliation.
In some cases, pain or at least discomfort is insignificant or rather secondary to the humiliation, as school children made to kneel facing the blackboard, possibly on a hard object. In other cases they are roughly matched, as assuming such position while holding heavy objects.
Especially in judicial use the combination often results in a very severe punishment.
Public punishment
The simplest is to administer painful
corporal punishmentCorporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
in public - the major aim may be
deterrenceDeterrence is a theory from behavioral psychology about preventing or controlling actions or behavior through fear of punishment or retribution...
of potential offenders - so the public will witness the victim's fear and agony. This can either take place in a
town squareA town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, and town green.Most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets,...
or other public gathering location such as a school, or take the form of a procession through the streets. This was not uncommon in the sentences to
Staupenschlag (whipping or
birchingBirching is a corporal punishment with a birch rod, typically applied to the recipient's bare buttocks, although occasionally to the back and/or shoulders.-Implement:...
, generally on the bare
buttocksThe buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...
) in various
German-speakingGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
states, till the 19th century. A naval equivalent was Flogging round the fleet on a raft taken from ship to ship for consecutive installments of a great total of lashes, that could even be lethal.
- The humiliation is generally intensified if the victim is unclothed (either partially or completely) as the exposure leaves the victim feeling vulnerable and helpless.
- Even when not strictly public, humiliation can still be a psychologically "painful" aspect of punishment because of the presence of witnessing peers (such as fellow prisoners), relatives, staff or other onlookers, or simply because the tormentor witnesses how self-control is broken down. This is also true for punishments in class.
- Sexually promiscuous women and girls were sometimes punished by having their pubic hair cut short or their genital areas shaved bald.
- Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
was used by the Romans to add public humiliation to a death penalty. JosephusTitus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
describes how the Roman soldiers would crucify people naked, and using different tortuous positions as a way to further humiliate them. Crucified bodies were left to decay on the cross for weeks, and crows would come to feed on it, which can be seen as post-mortem public humiliation. See also gibbeting.
Torture marks
The humiliation can be extended – intentionally or not – by leaving visible marks, such as
scarScars are areas of fibrous tissue that replace normal skin after injury. A scar results from the biological process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process. With the exception of very minor lesions, every wound results in...
s, notably on body parts that are normally left visible. This also serves as a virtually indelible criminal record. This can even be the main intention of the punishment, as in the case of
scarificationScarifying involves scratching, etching, burning, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification.In the process of body scarification, scars are formed by cutting or branding the skin...
s, such as branding. It invariably is essential in forms of mutilation, such as
ear croppingCropping is the removal of a person's ears as an act of physical punishment. It was performed along with the pillorying or immobilisation in the stocks, and sometimes alongside punishments such as branding or fines...
, though the functional loss is even greater; pain may even be intentionally minimized as in the case of surgical amputation, eliminating the risk of accidental death.
See also
- Badge of shame
A badge of shame, also a symbol of shame, mark of shame, or simply a stigma, is typically a distinctive symbol required to be worn by a specific group or an individual for the purpose of public humiliation, ostracism, or persecution...
- Parading on donkey
Parading on a donkey is a traditional psychological punishment, consisting in a public humiliation.-Scope:* In rural areas of India, it is intended to humiliate those guilty of minor crimes, and usually meted out by village elders or the local panchayat system of justice...
- Cucking/Ducking Stool
A tumbrel , is a two-wheeled cart or wagon typically designed to be hauled by a single horse or ox. Their original use was for agricultural work in particular they were associated with carrying manure. Their most notable use was taking prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution. They...
- Struggle session
A struggle session was a form of public humiliation used by the Communist Party of China to enforce a reign of terror in the Mao Zedong era to shape public opinion and to humiliate, persecute, and/or execute political rivals, so-called class enemies...
- Tramp chair
The tramp chair was a one-person retaining device used by American police, largely during the 19th century, as a mild form of torture and public humiliation....
, 1800's torture device