Colonial Punishments

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Colonial Punishments
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Purpose of Punishments

• Few Jails in Colonial America
• too expensive
• Punishment was swift and severe
• Goal was to stop future crime
• from happening, not to reform the
• criminal
• Send a message to others, set an example

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Common Colonial Crimes

• Drunkenness
• Adultery
• Thievery
• Slander saying something that
• ruins someones reputation
• Murder
• Treason speaking or acting against the
  government
• Blasphemy challenging accepted religious beliefs

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Hog Stealing (1st time)
fine of ten pounds or twenty-five lashes at the
whipping post and a fine of 400 pounds of tobacco
to be shared by the owner of the stolen hog and
the informant
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Hog Stealing (2nd time)
locked in the Pillory with his/her ears nailed to
the frame when released the nailed part of
his/her ear was torn off
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Hog Stealing (3rd time)

• a felony, a matter of the higher General Court -
  death was the usual punishment, whether the thief
  was a free person, a slave, or an indentured
  servant

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Branding
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Letter Wearing

• frequent form of shaming
• often used in conjunction with harsher
  punishments, such as whipping
• considered the kinder version of branding

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The Stocks

• a small wooden device with foot holes
• a seated persons ankles were locked in while
  his/her legs were held straight out

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The Ducking Stool
a chair to which criminals were tied and dunked
into water repeatedly
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The Branks

• enacted on women who gossiped or spoke too freely
  - a metal strip fit into the mouth and was either
  sharpened to a point or covered with spikes
• the woman was then led by a city official through
  the streets of town by a chain
• tied to a whipping post or pillory to stand in
  view of the cruel and verbally abusive public

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The Pillory

• pillory, or "stretch-neck," usually stood in the
  main squares of towns, in full view of the
  townspeople
• subject cannot hide his/her face from bystanders
• sometimes townspeople threw food and other
  objects at the culprit
• worse punishment than the Stocks because the
  criminal had to stand

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Flogging / Whipping

• usually twenty to forty lashes were common
• one case of 117 lashes in the record book

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The Bilboes
iron restraints put on the wrists or ankles
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Bind Out

• children, especially those of poor families, were
  bound out
• the court contracted with someone for the child
  to serve as his or her apprentice for a number of
  years
• sometimes the punishment for a crime was for
  people to work it off by being sold to someone
  as a servant for a period of years

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Banishment
A form of punishment imposed on an individual,
usually by a town or colony, in which the
individual is forced to remain outside of that
town or colony.
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Hanging
The Final Punishment
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