Joshua Hill, a 36yr old from North Carolina is unlikely to raise so much as his voice at a woman ever again, not after the punishment he has been made to undergo. Hill pleaded guilty to assault and criminal trespassing in 2014, and last week admitted to violating a parole condition stipulating that he not have contact with the female from the assault case. For the parole violation, Judge Mark Cummings ordered Hill to hold a sign which reads:
‘This is the face of domestic abuse’ outside the courthouse from 8.30am to 12.30pm for seven consecutive days, in addition to a three day jail sentence. Unsurprisingly, he’s not finding it fun, he said:
‘This is belittling. I was born and raised here, everybody knows me.’
He said he didn’t assault anyone but pleaded guilty to avoid jail but would rather go to jail than suffer the humiliation of this unusual punishment.
Lawrence McSwain, a retired Judge unconnected with the case said:
‘The idea is that if we shame you, and you feel embarrassed, then maybe you won’t do this again.
‘A judge has a lot of power to create unusual sentencing because the statue says that a judge may impose any other condition that reasonably relates to the crime and the purpose of which punishment is imposed.’