Those fortunate enough to get one of Cicconetti’s odd sentences are generally first-time offenders — and they always have the option of taking the more traditional punishment if they don’t want to carry out the judge’s more bizarre alternatives.



“I typically use these creative alternative sentences for younger people who are more impressionable [and] at least somewhat remorseful,” he told ABC News.

“The philosophy behind it is that whatever punishment they choose, it's going to prevent them from coming back to court on another charge.”

Thanks in no small part to Cicconetti, judges around the country are increasingly handing out odd sentences. As a way to help people get off drugs, some judges have started ordering defendants to write their own obituaries and then read them in court. Others have ordered defendants to visit morgues to see the bodies of crash victims, or, in one case, to cook Thanksgiving dinner for police officers after knocking them over in traffic.



Pinkey Carr, a municipal judge in Cleveland, has credited Cicconetti for influencing her take on alternative punishments.

In 2012, she famously gave a woman the option of serving jail time or standing on a street corner carrying a sign labeling her as an “idiot” after she drove on the sidewalk to avoid stopping behind a school bus.



“Even as a prosecutor, I was inspired by some of the sentences [Cicconetti] gave,” Carr said. “In this situation, because [the defendant] was so brazen, I wanted to make sure it was more than a slap on the wrist.”



Peter Miller, a judge in Putnam County, Florida, has dispensed odd sentences for more than 600 shoplifters over the last 12 years. He usually requires them to carry signs in front of the courthouse or the stores they’ve stolen from.



A lawyer who has defended many shoplifting defendants before Miller said that his clients “cringe” when offered the judge’s option to carry a sign.

“They hate it. They would rather jump off a cliff than carry the sign. They would pay more money. They would swim the English Channel,” Assistant Public Defender Mack Brunton told the Los Angeles Times in 2007. “We don’t like it, but what he does is legal.”

Such punishments seem to work.

Cicconetti said he’s seen very few repeat offenders since he began issuing his unorthodox sentences more than 20 years ago. Legal experts also see merit in creative justice cases. Not only do they shame offenders, but they save the public money by avoiding adding another inmate to often already overcrowded and underfunded jails.



After 26 years of dispensing odd sentences, Cicconetti announced in February 2019 that he’ll be retiring later this year. While this might be a bummer to future first-time offenders in Lake County, Ohio, who might not get offered such lenient punishments, Cicconetti’s legacy will no doubt live on and inspire future judges seeking to lower recidivism rates in their courts.



In this vein, here are 12 of the oddest sentences that judges across the country have dispensed in recent years.