Sentence:  What about contempt? Isn't it used by the judiciary as a <WSD>stick</WSD> to dissuade people from writing or talking about them? 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A negative stimulus or a punishment. ((This sense derives from the metaphor of using a stick, a long piece of wood, to poke or beat a beast of burden to compel it to move forward. Compare "carrot".))