Prison costs a lot of money and that money comes from taxes, which, are from us.

I think prison should be used for violent crimes and the more serious ones.

Meanwhile, the non-voilent ones, we could use some sort of public shaming as a form of punishment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_humiliation

I think this method is much more effective than just stuffing people in jail wasting our tax dollars.

This method of punishment is actually very popular in the past. It is cost effective (zero) and it leaves an emotional scar deep enough to stop people doing it again.

Why and when was this stopped? Prison lobby?

Nope, probably because it conflicts with our privacy laws.

If you are hauled off to jail for two days, you get a rep and that's it. If your poster is hanged everywhere proclaiming you're a thief or worse, you're placed somewhere for public display... that's an image you can never shake off. A simple crime like theft suddenly punishable by life and you wouldn't want that.

Isn't that exactly what you want? They wouldn't steal to begin with knowing what kind of punishment they would be getting.

People steal in countries that get your hand chopped off. You can't prevent it.

Well, chopping the hands off is maybe a bit too much.

However, I wouldn't mind pedophiles getting their reproductive organ chopped off.

I'm not proposing we should chop them off, I'm just using it as an example that as a preventive measure public shaming will not work.

(chemical) castration of (repeated) pedophiles has also been a hotly debated issue in the EU. Final verdict: It's illegal as it's in violation of the human's right for body-integrity.

http://consumerist.com/2007/05/judge-orders-shoplifters-to-wear-signs-reading-i-am-a-thief-i-stole-from-walmart.html

Should be used more often. I think public bukkake would be a huge deterrent.

Because even criminals have the right to privacy... I certainly wouldn't want to deprivate a small-time thief of their privacy.

If someone becomes a thief and later repents, they should be allowed to keep their crimes in the past.

It wouldn't work on me. I don't feel shame.

On a related note, let me add that medieval times (when humiliation was common) were very different from now. There was no Internet back then, for one thing.

If something like this happened today, you would quickly see online searchable databases where everyone can see every crime anyone ever committed. This record would follow you everywhere in the world for the rest of your life.

It's just too draconian.