I think this could work very well if the offender is someone who has high standing in their community and would be humiliated by being seen in such a state. It may not work well if the person already is of low stature or is located in a spot where he won't be seen by many people they know.
You honestly think that the judge will ascribe this same punishment to his golf buddy that mouthed off to a cop after being drunk? Nope. This is a way to further shame those that are likely already at rock bottom.
Good point, I didn't consider that. Perhaps it's a good idea in theory but in reality it doesn't work as intended.
Well, if I can trust the morning news here in the Netherlands (yes, for some reason they covered this), he is not seen by many first hand. What they showed was a completely empty street in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood.
I don't think it matters much how many people saw him. Even if it is just one person, it is humiliating. Consider that this was shown in The Netherlands and the amount of people that saw him wearing the sign escalates pretty quickly. In my opinion it is a childish punishment and community service would make much more sense.
Completely true, didn't think about it in that way. (The news part that is)