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More Than Just a 'Timeout'

Our country has a rich history of sometimes creative punishments for different crimes. Some of these were meant to humiliate the offenders more than hurt them (though they definitely had punishments that inflict severe pain). Among the humiliating punishments in colonial North America was a tool called the “ducking stool.” This punishment was reserved as humiliation for slanderers, brawlers, quarrelsome married couples, and even "brewers of bad beer or bakers of bad bread." The offender would be strapped to a chair tied to two twelve- to fifteen-foot beams that could swing out from the shore of a river or pond. Being placed in this chair, he would be swiveled out from the shore and then dunked into the water.

Other punishments were more severe. Branding was used to punish with both pain and humiliation. If you were caught stealing, for example, the letter B would be branded on your right hand for the first offense; and on the left hand for the second offense (if someone committed burglary on Sunday, he would be branded on the forehead). Other crimes required other brandings: "SL" for seditious libel (speech inciting rebellion against a government official), "M" for manslaughter, "T" for thief, "R" for rogue or vagabond (a person with no home), and "F" for forgery. If a person committed the crime twice, he would have his forehead branded. A third offense meant death.

Additional punishments included the pillory (upright stocks), whipping post, the brank (cage around the head with a "tongue of iron" that was thrust into the mouth and often piercing the tongue), and the stocks.

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