Most Taunted

Desperate to collect child support payments to keep as many women as possible off the welfare rolls, the County of Los Angeles has resorted to creating a "Most Wanted List" for men who are refusing to honor judgments that require them to pay to support their offspring. Websites about criminal offenders that feature photographs generally serve three purposes: apprehension, surveillance, and shame. The FBI's Most Wanted posters, which have now largely migrated to the web, is a classic example of the first genre. The websites that feature sexual offenders who have been released into the community nominally serve the second purpose but often serve the third as well. How this site will function in making these men community reprobates has yet to be firmly established, although radio and print outlets are triumphing its success.