Loyalist sources have said the UDA in north Belfast will no longer carry out "punishment" shootings and beatings.
Instead, the paramilitary group is adopting "naming and shaming" for those it claims are involved in anti-social activity. On Wednesday, the UDA forced two young men, whom it alleged had carried out burglaries, to stand with placards reading: "We are scum who robbed our own people."
Both republican and loyalist paramilitaries have adopted such tactics in the past, although not in recent years. The young men refused to talk to the media as passers-by stared at them.
Loyalist sources said the local UDA had made a decision to abandon "punishment" shootings and beatings in favour of a "non-violent" approach.
"The aim is to humiliate those involved in anti-social activity and to make them own up publicly to what they are.
"These people need to face the community," one source said.
It is understood the move is currently limited to north Belfast but that the UDA in other areas may adopt the policy.
