quaint local customs
Driving to Home Depot (Bellevue) at 3:30 this afternoon, I was passing by the Larry’s Market complex when my attention was caught by a man wearing a sandwich board who was standing on the little traffic island by the side of the road.
The sandwich board read (and I paraphrase from memory):
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I am a thief.
I was caught shoplifting.
I deserve to be beaten up.
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I could see a cop car heading down the road toward me, so I skedaddled. Ten minutes later, on my way out of Home Depot — I never find what I want there, and I don’t even know why I bother looking — he was on the sidewalk having a conversation with two cops.
I wonder what that was all about.
I don’t know what it’s called but judges issue this alternative type of sentencing all the time. I never knew they did it here though. Check out this link for more info http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/pletcher/sl2/latimes.htm
I think that this form of punishment, like jail, is counter-productive. If money was better spent, ie on education, then there wouldn’t be such a problem with repeat offenders.
Also there was an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where the main character had this happen to him. It’s called the massage on the first or second season and it was damn hilarious.
yeah, I don’t think this was the same thing. It’s that last line that gets me: “I deserve to be beaten up”. I don’t think any authorised “scarlet letter” punishment would actually contain that phrase. Lastly, he really needs to be standing out in front of the store. We get news items multiple times a year of people who have been run over simply for standing by their broken-down vehicle on the highway. I don’t need someone to fixate on this guy and run him over instead of taking the turn. (Obviously, the cops didn’t, either)