It's corrupt as soon as politics enters in the least. Since the idea of permanently disfiguring someone is all about how we want other people to mistreat them for the rest of their lives, this horrific branding idea is all politics. If anything it's a slur against the admittedly noble idea of humans banding together with their neighbors to commit violence in the common defense. That violence is done quietly, in secret, or else it is a lynch mob, which is very political.