The Scarlet Letter: How do we know what is right and what is wrong?

Your task is to answer this question in the blog.  Unlike normal blog posts in which you must simply respond to the question than reply to one peer, this time you must create a dialogue or debate within the comments.

You must determine your own informed beliefs on the matter after researching how public shame is used today.

Do you believe public shame reinforces an ethical code or undermines it?  Alternatively, can public shame be used effectively in one situation and detrimentally in another?