Woman sentenced to write an essay on 'how a lady should behave in public'
A North Carolina woman who pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly and resisting arrest has been sentenced to write an essay on how to behave like a lady in public.
Tonie Marie King, 21, received the unusual sentence recently from Halifax County, N.C., judge Brenda Branch, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Branch, who says she’s assigned other youthful offenders to write essays as well, said some people need pure punishment. Others, like King, just need a little “redirecting.”
“We don’t have a lot of resources out here, so I try to be creative,” Branch told the newspaper.
King had been accused of stealing beer from a convenience store last February. When police arrived, she struggled with and kicked the arresting officer. Branch sentenced King to 45 days in jail, but suspended the sentence in lieu of one-year of supervised probation, during which she may not possess or drink alcohol and must write a two-page essay on “How a Lady Should Behave in Public.”
Branch said she’s not expecting a college-level English paper. “I just want her to think about what she did and how she can change.”
