8. Beard-Cutting Attacks
Because women must grow their hair and men their beards, it makes those two things the main targets for violence amongst or within differing Amish communities. This kind of attack is a form of punishment and involves cutting off the beard of the member to be punished.
This isn’t actually a lawful form of punishment in the Amish communities, and even though the punished one may not be guilty of anything legal-wise, the loss of hair causes shunning and great shame (this isn’t an ex-communication, but rather a social embarrassment).
For instance, in 2012, an Amish sect leader Samuel Mullet forced 15 members to attack other Amish communities using this technique. They were found guilty and received 10 years in prison for violation of hate crime laws.
