ABSTRACT
In the legal academy there has been a growing debate on "shaming penalties"--such as requiring drunk drivers to put signs on their cars saying they were convicted of drunk driving. Reintegrative shaming theory gives an account of why this should make crime worse. Restorative justice theorists are actually not preoccupied with either shame or guilt punishments, but with de-centering punishment in regulatory institutions while acknowledging the significant place that punishment will always have within them. Stigmatization means shaming whereby the wrongdoer is treated disrespectfully as an outcast and as a bad person. Reintegrative shaming means treating the wrongdoer respectfully and empathically as a good person who has committed a bad act and making special efforts to show the wrongdoer how valued he or she is after the wrongful act has been confronted. The debate about reintegrative shaming has been individualistic.
