For environmental crimes, a public mea culpa

The Rockmore Co. has a confession: “Our company has discharged human waste directly into Massachusetts coastal waters.’’ That statement is part of an abject apology that will soon appear in newspaper ads if a federal judge approves a plea deal between the US government and Rockmore, which is accused of illegally dumping waste for years in Salem Harbor and in the Charles River off the Esplanade from its sightseeing cruise ship and its floating restaurant. The agreement would mark at least the fourth time in recent years that federal prosecutors in Massachusetts have required environmental scofflaws to buy large and costly advertisements atoning for their crimes as part of their sentences. Many legal scholars say the apologies foster contrition and save the government the high costs of more traditional punishments, such as incarceration. But some defense lawyers and scholars say the ads represent a throwback to the stocks and pillories of Colonial times and are designed less to educate the public and more to humiliate wrongdoers. “It’s the scarlet letter,’’ said Stellio Sinnis, a federal public defender...read more