Naming, shaming and criminal justice: Mass-mediated humiliation as entertainment and punishment

Abstract

Shame has long been a dubious tool of criminal justice and has been carried on by state authorities in a variety of ways through the ages. However, since the latter part of the 20th century, humiliation has become amplified through the mass media in the name of crime control and entertainment. This article situates mass-mediated humiliation within broader trends in criminal justice and popular culture. While the enactment of humiliation via popular culture works powerfully within prevailing cultural beliefs about crime and criminality, there also exists a subversive possibility that threatens to disrupt the forces that attempt to invoke shame for purposes of profit or social control. The popular American tabloid news magazine, Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator, is used as an example to highlight the ambiguous cultural place of shame.

From empowering the shameful to shaming the empowered: Shifting depictions of the poor in ‘reality TV’

“…Through the association of particular groups, such as illegal immigrants, with risk and danger, and the representation of state agents as 'heroic' protectors, state agendas are effectively legitimised. For Kohm (2009), reality TV can constitute part of broader social control and criminal justice apparatus at a real as well as an ideological level. Using the example of NBC's Dateline: To Catch A Predator (a programme in which journalists, local police and an internet watchdog group use hidden cameras to lure, trap, confront and in many cases arrest suspected paedophiles), he contends that the message is two-fold: first, that 'communities are under attack and the only way to fight back is to be perpetually on the lookout for crime' and second, that the mass media can be seen as a 'private sector solution to the "law and order" crisis' (Kohm, 2009: 194).…”

Prisons and Punishment in Texas

“…Examples cited include boot camps, three strikes legislation, increased use of execution, chain gangs, and a number of other policies relating to the public disclosure of off ences once an individual has been released from prison (primarily sexual and/or violent off ences). Together these polices have been termed 'shame penalties' (Karp 1998 ) or 'expressive extra-legal sanctions' (Pratt 2000 ), with Kohm ( 2009 ) suggesting that the primary goal of such policies is to humiliate the off ender while simultaneously affi rming the legitimacy of state power. Furthermore, Altheide ( 1992 ) argues that the more emotive styles of punishing have primarily gained their meaning through media discourse, with the portrayal of shame penalties in popular culture indicating a more general shift in public sensibilities, a shift which is characterised by an increased desire to celebrate cruelty, hurt and humiliation (Kohm 2009 ;Presdee 2000 ).…”

“…Th e spectacle of punishment and the fears associated with vulnerability become framed as entertainment; humiliation, vindictiveness and vengeance are positioned at the centre of crime and punishment cultural narratives (Bauman 2006 ;Kohm 2009 ;Lynch 2004 ;Presdee 2000 ;Sarat 1999a ). In short, within the cultural life of punishment, narratives of fear and vengeance are not mutually exclusive and one is often employed to (re)affi rm the necessity of the other.…”

Police Body-Worn Camera Perceptions Pre/post Deployment

“…If the video is made available to the public, the offender and officer may be shamed by the media and the public. Kohm (2009) identified that "shame and humiliation in criminal justice have become increasingly commodified, enacted, and experienced through hybrid forms of media that blur the boundaries of reality and entertainment" (p. 188).…”

“…This negative publicity can have an offender labeled a criminal for life or destroy an officer and their departments' credibility for years to come. Kohm (2009) recognized that this form of humiliation "has emerged in recent years as a viable and symbolically rich vehicle for social control when commodified and refracted through the lens of popular culture, the outcomes are unpredictable and may contain the seeds of discontent." (p. 189).…”