criminal law:

In United States v. Gementera, Shawn Gementera stole letters from several mailboxes in San Francisco. He entered a plea agreement and pled guilty to mail theft. The 24-year-old Gementera already had an extensive arrest record including criminal mischief, driving with a suspended license, misdemeanor battery, possession of drug paraphernalia, and taking a vehicle without the owner's consent. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker sentenced Gementera to two months' imprisonment and three years' supervised release. Several conditions were placed on the supervised release including requiring Gementera to perform one day of community service consisting of either wearing a two-sided sandwich-board-style sign or carrying a large two-sided sign stating, "I stole mail; this is my punishment." Gementera was required to display the sign for eight hours while standing in front of a San Francisco postal facility. The prosecution and the defense attorneys jointly agreed that Gementera also would lecture at a high school and write apologies to any identifiable victims.

Do "shaming punishments" promote rehabilitation?

Deter criminal conduct?

Unnecessarily shame and humiliate defendants?