Stocks are an old device used for punishment. Stocks are a wooden framework with holes for the legs of the victim, and sometimes also for the arms. People were placed in the stocks for minor offenses, such as drunkenness, for periods of a few hours to several days. Stocks were commonly used for punishment in American colonial days. In the North, women charged with being “common scolds” were sometimes punished in the stocks. In the South, disobedient slaves were placed in the stocks. Stocks were used until the early 1800’s.
