Punishments

In most countries people who break the law are either fined or imprisoned, but through the ages there have been many other forms of punishments. Whipping or flogging was once common: mutinous sailors were whipped with a cat – o – nine – tails or keelhauled. Flogging was widely used in the USA. The last state to abolish it was Delaware – but not until 1972. Even today, some countries punish people by pelting with stones, usually resulting in the victim’s death. Stocks were wooden structures which held the seated victim by the ankles. People threw things at then and ridiculed them – they were literally made a laughing stock. The pillory held victims in place by the neck and wrists. It was worse than the stocks as the people could not use their hands to protect their faces from things thrown at them, and could be blinded or even killed. The last person to be pilloried in England was Peter James Bossy in London on 22 June 1830.