I came across an article (link below) of a South Euclid man, Edmond Aviv, that was sentenced for bullying two disabled children. Part of his sentence was to sit on a street corner with a sign that stated "I am a bully. I pick on children that are disabled..."
While I do understand what the judge was trying to achieve with this punishment, I don't agree that it was appropriate or even effective; as the man' s response to the public humiliation was that "the judge destroyed me. This isn't fair at all."
Human behavior is such that people typically do to others what has been done to them.So what was the real lesson that the judge gave Edmond Aviv? When someone humiliates you, you humiliate them. When you bully, you will be bullied. I don't think that the judge's decision did anything to rehabilitate Edmond Aviv. Edmond Aviv may not bully these particular neighbors again, but he learned nothing of tolerance, human rights, or civil rights; because he learned nothing, his behavior is bound to repeat itself just with different people in a different setting.
It would have been more appropriate to have him charged with a crime that reflected his actions and sentenced according to the guidelines of that crime. Being charged with disorderly conduct is a far cry from what he actually did. In our DD world, we call what he did Verbal Abuse which is the equivalent of Malicious Harassment.
Sitting on a street corner with a sign, Edmond Aviv's only thoughts were about himself; how he is destroyed, how it isn't fair to him. Not that he regretted his treatment of his fellow human beings or that he now understands that his actions were wrong.
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/04/13/sign-holder-calls-sentence-unfair/20868351/?icid=maing-grid7
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