[she lifts a finger to trace the edges of her glass as she speaks]

The role that mans the stocks is the Deputy. The Deputy actually has the power to either place one person in the stocks per week, to make them more vulnerable to Bandits, or to place them in the jail cell to protect them from attempts on their lives.

So far, the Deputy has only been utilizing the stocks. They have the option to protect, but they haven't been using it.

[does he see where she's going with this]