Pillory and whipping post. 19th-century pillory (top) and whipping post (bottom) in Delaware, USA. The pillory is occupied by two African-American men. This punishment, similar to the stocks, was used for public humiliation for petty criminals. The pillory had been abolished in the UK by 1837 but remained in use in the USA in the state of Delaware until it was abolished in 1972. Photographed by Samuel M. Fox in around 1889.