
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 29, 1994                   TAG: 9501040027
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LYNCHBURG

PUBLIC HUMILIATION seems so, well, uncivilized - a return to stocks on the town square where passersby threw rotten eggs and tomatoes at wrongdoers on display.

But there's nothing civilized about the havoc that can be wreaked on society by the absence of shame amid behavior that should be shameful.

And social stigma can be a potent deterrent. It has certainly helped reduce, for example, the numbers of adult smokers and drunken drivers.

Now comes Lynchburg with a plan to take shame a step farther. If tougher laws and penalties have failed to deter some drunken drivers or those who get hopped up on illegal drugs and take to the streets, figure city officials, maybe piling on exposure and ridicule and embarrassment will help.

Starting in January, the city plans to broadcast on its cable TV community-access channel the names of everyone arrested on drunken driving and drug charges.

Doubtless there will be howls of dismay, especially from those arrested but able to avoid jail time. In Fredericksburg, which has had a similar program for about a year, the police department regularly gets calls from those who have made the dishonor roll, pleading to have their names taken off the air.

``This has affected by job ... I've learned my lesson. I made a mistake," go the cries.

But the cries are piffling compared with those of family and friends at the graveside of one whose life has been snuffed out by an inebriated driver or drug addict.

If new-fashioned public shaming can help halt drunken, reckless disregard for others before it causes death and sorrow, it's worth a try.

It just might work, assuming anyone watches those public-access channels.

by CNB