"Cannot be named for legal reasons", bullshit or not?

I'm personally against it. Rehabilitation has turned into vengeance. Throwing people's lives away like this will only accomplish those accused of resorting to more crime once they've been shamed into it.

Think about it. I'm talking about the one time offenders here who constitute the majority of criminal charges. If you're rejected by society, how is one suppose to rejoin back into it if this is what they can expect? I would resort to crime if this was the way I was treated after a mistake. This eye-for-an-eye crap has top stop and stop soon.

It doesn't work. In fact, it creates more problems.

There is a reason why here in the U.S. we don't publish the names of minors as a rule. Hopefully they receive appropriate punishment and some rehabilitation or re-programing as part and parcel. I know that is somewhat utopian, but sometimes we need to hold out some hope for the future.

Now if the minor continues to disregard societal rules then by all means step up the punishment. This also is justification for treating minors as adults given the nature of certain crimes.

The minor involved in that horrendous murder in FL a few weeks ago is a great example. He is going to be tried as an adult but his name is not being released.

I suppose the "Scarlet Letter" approach may prove effective at times but then does that prohibit any potential for a successful rehabilitation?

Certainly the crime should influence the punishment and public notifications as well.

I'm not too savvy on how the US handles such things, but I do think that if you're a repeat offender, or being tried as an adult, then you should be named. First time you jaywalk, yeah, smack him on the wrist, but there are very-very-very-very few crimes you commit unintentionally. Like accidentally trespassing while hiking for example. Most of them completely harmless.

I am by no means a bleeding heart type, neither am I prone to accepting excuses either.

A minor first offense should be treated according, especially for minors! But I have no problem with punishments either when applied judiciously.

For example, a minor gets caught for stealing from a store, so punish him in a way that he/she gets a clue. Next time if there is one, cut the tip of their finger off, next time take the whole finger, if the behavior continues either cut their fucking hand off or lock them up for an extended period with bubba and the boys! Then if the behavior continues they go to jail permanently, and in fact forced to work in slave labor for all I care.

For that reason I like and support the "three strikes and you are out" sentencing program! There are admittedly some potential errors but all in all the policy is solid. This of course should only be applied to violent and/or felony level crimes.

I am disappointed by these posts as our correctional facilities are nothing but violence dens that breed future generations of criminals by stripping them of what little hope remains after incarceration. They simply don't work, unless furthering the objective of creating more prisons is your agenda. We keep building more and more and solve nothing by throwing these lives away and stripping those of what little dignity they have left.

Don't get me wrong. There are certainly MANY that deserve this. But, there are others who fall in the shadows of the deserving and receive the same "treatment" for lesser offenses and what does it solve? I'm not a bledding heart, but rather a realist who has seen the damage that these "correctional" facilities do. Staying the course as we now know it will only guarantee more prisons and prisoners to fill them up, instead of overhauling our "justice" system, which is at the heart of the problem.

Oh My! You sound just like my husband!

We watch a lot of those police programmes on TV (UK), and just this week there was a young lad on who had been stealing cars/motorbike/property since he was 8 years old and my husband said 'They should chop his bloody fingers off'. The thing is he was not ashamed, he had never been to prison or a young offenders institue and on tv his face had been misted out 'for legal reasons'. I say it is bull; name them and shame them.