Stocks - Wikipedia Stocks For people of this name, see Stocks ( surname ). For other uses, see Stock ( disambiguation ). `` Village stocks '' redirects here. For the humorous Wikipedia feature, see Wikipedia : Village stocks. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( July 2009 ) Black slaves in stocks in Brazil circa 1830. Stocks are restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. Contents 1 Form and application 2 Modern usage 2.1 United States 2.2 United Kingdom 2.3 Colombia 3 Examples 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Form and application The stocks, pillory, and pranger each consist of large wooden boards with hinges ; however, the stocks are distinguished by restraining one 's feet. The stocks consist of placing boards around the ankles and wrists, whereas in the pillory the boards are fixed to a pole and placed around the arms and neck, forcing the punished to stand. Some consider the stocks an example of torture and cruel and unusual punishment. Victims may be insulted, kicked, tickled, spat on, or subjected to other inhumane acts. In the Bible, the treatment of Paul and Silas, disciples of Jesus, was detailed in the Acts of the Apostles : `` Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. '' The Old Testament 's book of Job also describes the stocks, referring to God : He puts my feet in the stocks, he watches all my paths. The stocks were employed by civil and military authorities from medieval to early modern times including Colonial America. Public punishment in the stocks was a common occurrence from around 1500 until at least 1748. The stocks were especially popular among the early American Puritans, who frequently employed the stocks for punishing the `` lower class ''. In the American colonies, the stocks were also used, not only for punishment, but as a means of restraining individuals awaiting trial. The offender would be exposed to whatever treatment those who passed by could imagine. This could include tickling of the feet. As noted by the New York Times in an article dated November 13, 1887, `` Gone, too, are the parish stocks, in which offenders against public morality formerly sat imprisoned, with their legs held fast beneath a heavy wooden yoke, while sundry small but fiendish boys improved the occasion by deliberately pulling off their shoes and tickling the soles of their defenseless feet. '' Village stocks in Bramhall, England. England 's Statute of Labourers 1351 prescribed the use of the stocks for `` unruly artisans '' and required that every town and village erect a set of stocks. Sources indicate that the stocks were used in England for over 500 years and have never been formally abolished. Finger pillories often went by the name of `` finger stocks ''. Public stocks were typically positioned in the most public place available, as public humiliation was a critical aspect of such punishment. Typically, a person condemned to the stocks was subjected to a variety of abuses, ranging from having refuse thrown at them, tickling to paddling, whipping of the unprotected feet ( bastinado ). Their last recorded use in the United Kingdom was in 1872 at either Adpar, Newcastle Emlyn, west Wales or Newbury, Berkshire, England ( 11 June ). In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, court records from 1811 required the building of a set of stocks for punishment. The Spanish conquistadores introduced stocks as a popular form of punishment and humiliation against those who impeded the consolidation of their settlements in the new world. They were still used in the 19th century in Latin America to punish indigenous miners in many countries for rebelling against their bosses. Modern usage United States American courts normally punish offenders by sentencing them to incarceration in jail or prison or to probation, which may include community service. In United States v. Gementera, ( 2004 ) the defendant was convicted of mail theft and sentenced, among other measures, to stand in front of a post office for eight hours wearing a sandwich board that read : `` I stole mail. This is my punishment. '' The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld this sentence, finding that the district court did not impose it solely for the purpose of humiliation, but also to serve the criminal - justice goals of deterrence and rehabilitation. The Ninth Circuit further found that the alternative sentence did not violate the Eighth Amendment 's ban on cruel and unusual punishment because it was `` within the limits of civilized standards '' and was not coupled with a lengthy prison sentence. In 1989 the Arkansas town of Dermott passed a curfew law punishable by up to thirty days in jail for the offender and up to two days in the stocks for the offender 's parents. The city almost immediately removed the stockade punishment because, among other things, the city did not have a stockade and had allocated no funds to build one. United Kingdom The British town of Thame made international headlines in 2016 when it took up a proposal to build stocks in the town. Introduced by Councillor David Bretherton, the stocks would be used for hire and for charitable events. As noted by Bretherton, `` Perhaps for charity we could do something like that, get people in the stocks and have others donate money for the time they last while having their feet tickled. '' Bretherton noted that the stocks were still legal in England. It is not believed that the stocks would be used for actual punishment purposes. Currently, further study of the topic is ongoing. Colombia In Colombia in 2012, married thirty - four - year - old Alfreda Blanco Basilio and her eighteen - year - old lover Luis Martinez were placed in stocks by the Sampues tribe in Colombia due to Basilio 's adultery. Basilio spent 72 hours barefoot in the stocks for her offense. The Stocks at Belstone in Dartmoor, a Grade II listed monument. Examples Stocks in Keevil, Wiltshire Stocks in the church yard of St Mary 's church, Honley An excellent example of stocks can be seen in Dromore, County Down, in Northern Ireland. They are occasionally preserved in churches though as wooden devices they are naturally subject to rotting and decay. See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stocks ( restraints ). Stock ( cage ) Shrew 's fiddle References Jump up ^ Bible, Acts 16 : 24. This most likely occurred around the year 57. Jump up ^ Job 13 : 27. Biblical scholars are unable to agree on when Job lived. But, it is most likely that he lived somewhere between 2350 and 1400 B.C. ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Earle, Alice Morse. `` Curious Punishments of Bygone Days, '' ( 1896 ), available in digitized form through the Gutenberg project. ( 2 ) Jump up ^ Cox, James A., `` Colonial Crimes and Punishments '', CW Journal, Spring 2003. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 09. Jump up ^ `` Pillory, Stocks and Whipping Post, Colonial Williamsburg, VA - Punishment and Disciplinary Devices on Waymarking.com ''. www.waymarking.com. Retrieved 18 March 2018. Jump up ^ David Ker 's New York Times article, `` England in Old Times '' ( page 11 of New York Times, November 13, 1887 ) Jump up ^ `` Stocks ''. www.medieval-life-and-times.info. Retrieved 18 March 2018. Jump up ^ John May, Reference Wales ( 1994 ) Jump up ^ Unknown, Sheffield Daily Telegraph ( Friday 14 June 1872 ) Jump up ^ `` Crime & Punishment in Colonial Upper Canada Toronto ''. www.russianbooks.org. Retrieved 18 March 2018. ^ Jump up to : United States v. Gementera, 379 F. 3d 596, 598 -- 99, 606, 608 ( 9th Cir. 2004 ). Jump up ^ `` New Ordinance in Arkansas Town Threatens Parents with Stockades ''. Observer - Reporter. Washington, PA. Associated Press. 13 August 1989. p. A4. Retrieved 1 January 2017. Jump up ^ `` Arkansas City Revises Stockade Ordinance ''. Associated Press. 22 August 1989. Retrieved 1 January 2017. Jump up ^ `` Town council makes bid to reinstate medieval punishment ''. The Oxford Times. Retrieved 18 March 2018. Jump up ^ http://www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/14.-Report-Town-Stocks.pdf Jump up ^ Brian Andrews on NTN24 and RCN, `` Couple having an affair put in stocks by Indian tribe in Columbia '' External links Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Stocks. Photos of village stocks in the UK on geograph.org.uk Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stocks&oldid=832894071 '' Categories : Medieval instruments of torture Modern instruments of torture Physical punishments Physical restraint European instruments of torture Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from July 2009 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2015 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Bikol Central Brezhoneg Català Dansk Deutsch Español Français Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Polski Português Русский Slovenščina Suomi Svenska Українська 7 more Edit links This page was last edited on 28 March 2018, at 15 : 25. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what is the thing called that you put your head and arms in
Answer: the pillory