… If ever a person deserves a little old-fashioned public shaming, it is Lori Drew, the creepy mom from Missouri who participated in an Internet hoax that drove a teenage girl to suicide.

And we, the media, have been giving it to Drew for the last year and a half, just by telling the whole world what a reprehensible thing she did. It is hard to image that Drew can walk into a diner anymore without somebody whispering, “That’s the woman who … “

Is that punishment enough?

Who knows. Some will say it is too much.

But we do know this — the next heartless adult who thinks about toying with the emotions of a teenager in such a cruel way might think twice. Nobody wants to be another Lori Drew, who must live with the burden of what she did.

And we know this: No amount of punishment will bring back the girl she taunted, 13-year-old Megan Meier.

The wrong approach in this sorry story — and, fortunately, a federal judge last week saw the problem clearly — would be to bend any law, whip up any contrived criminal charge, to exact revenge on Drew.

When prosecutors are allowed to twist the law to go after the worst of us, what is to stop them from doing the same to go after the rest of us?

Public shaming will just have to do. …

Do we wish more could have been done to hold Drew accountable? Yes. And perhaps there is a way for a legislature to fashion a cyber-bullying law that is focused and constitutional.

We urge them to give it a try.

But in the Court of Public Opinion, Lori Drew has already paid a heavy price.

As well she should.

— Chicago Sun-Times