The Internet allows us to take public shaming to a whole new level. It seems like every week we see a new trend in public shaming. My personal favorite has been, of course, dog shaming:

That’s a dog, and that’s adorable. I obviously don’t think anyone should ever shame their animal to the point of abuse, but stuff like this is pretty harmless. And adorable. Have I mentioned it’s adorable?

Moving quickly along to something a little more hard hitting, there’s also public shaming of people who post offensive things on the Internet. I frequent this blog because, personally, I feel like if you’re going to post something like you dressed up as Trayvon Martin for Halloween, complete with blackface, you’re an ass and deserve the ire.

Courtesy Public Shaming.

Ok so dog shaming and asshole shaming are okay-ish. We’re all in agreement here, right?

Ok, good. Now let’s move on to the latest iteration of public shaming — one that I have serious problems with. Police in Prince George’s County, Md., right outside of DC ,are going to be live-tweeting the names, charges, and possibly photos of men who are arrested on prostitution allegations.

This is a new level of public shaming, and I think it has the potential to be really harmful. Yes, arrests and mugshots are public information, but you have to seek them out. By tweeting out the pictures of men who are arrested, there is the possibility that they’ll broadcast and publicly shame men who are innocent. Sure, most of the them are probably guilty, but that’s not for the Twitter-sphere to decide. It’s for a trial of their peers to decide, without preconceived notions. Live-tweeting the suspects presumes that they have something to be shamed for before they’re even found guilty.

And as The Atlantic points out, this doesn’t just harm these men, it has the potential to harm people in their lives too. If a father makes a mistake and breaks the law, does that mean that his family should have to have the embarrassment broadcast to the world?

This is just flat out public shaming for the sake of publicity, nothing more. If you want to tweet out the faces of people who have been convicted, fine, but wait until their trials are over.

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Anneliese Mahoney (@AMahoney8672) is Lead Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Grendelkhan via Wikimedia]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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