The stocks are a device used since medieval times for public humiliation, corporal punishment, and torture. The stocks are similar to the pillory and the pranger, as each consists of large, hinged, wooden boards; the difference, however, is that when a person is placed in the stocks, their feet are also locked in place, as well as their hands and head. With stocks, boards are placed around the legs or the wrists, whereas in the pillory they are placed around the arms and neck and fixed to a pole. Hence the stocks can be seen as a portable version of the pillory. However, the terms can be confused, and many people refer to the pillory as the stocks. The practice of using stocks continues to be cited as an example of cruel and unusual punishment.

Historical uses

The stocks were popular in medieval times as a mild restraining device for minor offenders. In the stocks, an offender's ankles would be placed and locked through two holes in the center of a board. Either before or after this the wrongdoer would have his or her shoes and socks removed, exposing their bare feet. Exhibiting an offender's bare feet was considered a form of humiliation. Offenders were forced to carry out their punishments in the rain, during the heat of summer, or in freezing weather, and generally would receive only bread and water. 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 paddling and tickling of the feet (compare the excruciating oriental falaqa, a bastinado applied to the tender foot-soles) to being stoned to death.