Assume you’re an advisor to the Criminal Law Committee in the California state legislature, which is considering legislation banning “shaming” punishments for selected crimes.

You’re asked to write a memorandum for the committee that answers the following questions and then recommends what, if any, legislation the committee should draft:

a. Do shaming punishments violate the Eighth Amendment ban on “cruel and unusual punishments”?

b. Assuming they don’t, are they wise public policy? According to the dissent in U.S. v. Gementera

(2004), “A fair measure of a civilized society is how its institutions behave in the space between what it may have the power to do and what it should do.”

c. Recommend what, if any, legislation the committee should enact.