The Pillory

Where should I begin my story? A lot has changed within the last couple of years. I used to live in one of the most civilized coutries in the world, but the civil war changed that.

The civil war divided the country into two equal sizes. The south being controlled by the "Reds" and the north being controlled by the "Blues" and although it ended with a truce, a lot of blood had been spilled and there was a lot of mistrust. Also the civil war had ruined the economy and and the justice system. It was like the country had gone back 150 years. Slavery was no longer illigal, but it was not based on the colour of your skin, it was simply a question of rich or poor. Many poor families sold themselves into slavery, so that they knew that the rich folks that bought them would make sure that they had food in their stomachs and clothes on their bodies.

Right after the end of the civil war there was also a lot of looting and although the new government tried to keep things civilized the prisons were overcrowded and it was not possible to give everybody a long and expensive trial.

That was when somebody suggested that the government looked at how law and order was conductet in the past and this led to the re-introduction of public punishment instead of a lenghtly trial.

The public punishment would be used for small time offences and the punishment was swift. It was still sentenced by a judge but could be sentenced without the case being presented in a court. The punishment was either a public whipping or time spend in the pillory.

The introduction of public punishment meant that every town build a punishment square with whipping posts and several pillories. In the beginning the whipping posts were mostly used to punish thiefs and the pillories were used for people who had been rumored to be cooperating with the other side. There was a type of psychological warfare between the two sides, where suspected spies would be humiliated at the pillories and then the videos would be shared on social medias in order to taunt the other side.

A lot of people had been against the public punishment system, because they believed in a fair trial, but they could not argue against the fact that the crime rate had dropped significantly after the introduction of public punishment. It was swift, cheap and effectful, because a person who had spend a day at the whipping post or in the pillory rarely repeated their crimes.

In the beginning the public punishment was always supervised by members of the policeforce to ensure that everything was conducted in an orderly fashion, but soon the government discovered that the public punishment gave back a sence of power to the people and they also saw that the people who had been humiliated most at these punishment squares were the least likely to commit a crime again. So they removed the supervision and divided all public punishment squares into two. One side was for lesser offences where the stage with the pillories had a small fence around it, which prevented the people to get too close to the prisoner. The other part of the square was for the more serious offences and was by the public called the "The playground" or "No limit" area. This area had no fence and the public could even touch the prisoners. Although it was called the "No limit" area there was one rule. If you permanent damage the prisoner, you will take the place of the prisoner for the remainder of the time.

The new punishment system worked perfect on bringing down the crime rate, but some people still doubted the system and said that too many innocent people was being falshly accused and punished.

Debbie was a young woman of 19, she had been a young child when the civil war broke out. Luckily for Debbie her family belonged to the upper middleclass, so they got through at civil war without loosing too much and after the war her farther re-opened his business and was now once again very successful.

To Debbie the new world order was not so far from what she had experienced before the war. She was back in school and had a lot of plans for her future.

Of course Debbie had noticed how some things had changed after the war and although her parents was against the introduction of public punishment and told Debbie never to go near the punishment square. Debbie had to admit that the curiousity was to big and on several occations she had ignored her parents rules and with her good friend Cheryl, she had walked over to punishent square to see what the fuzz was about. Although it was called punishment square, in Debbie's hometown it was actually located in city park surounded with lots of trees and grass. It used to be a popular hangout for families on weekends. Now it was still a popular hangout, but children were no longer allowed in the park.

Her first time to punishment square had been a big shock to Debbie, a man who had been convicted of theft was standing chained to the whipping post,he was naked from the waist up and people was taking turn whipping him with a single tail whip. The man was screaming in pain and begging for mercy, but it was not until he passed out from the pain that the **** ended. One part of Debbie felt sorry for the man, but she also felt that justice was being served and that the man had probably learned his lesson.

The second time Debbie and Cheryl walked over to the punishment square, she saw a man who had been put in the pillory. His punishment was not as painful as the other man, but it was definately humiliating. The man had been accused of spying for the "Blue" and he was sentenced to 1 day in the pillory. People was shouting at him, calling him a pig and a rat. They were also throwing rotten fruit and vegetables at the defenceless man. It was clear that this had been going on for some time because the man was covered in filth and smell was sickening. Debbie did not feel sorry for this man. A person who worked with the "Blue" deserved what was coming to him and Debbie thought to herself that it was a shame that she did not have any rotten food herself to throw at him.

The few times that Debbie had visited punishment square was before the square was split into two and while the police still ensured that everything was being done in accordance to the rules.

Debbie had not been there since the changes, but her and Cheryl had talked abot going there soon. They had both heard rumours around school about the things that were happening there now and although it sounded too crazy to be true, they were curious to see it for themselves.

Like I said, not a lot had changed for Debbie and her family, but that was to change on that faithful day in August.