When people were locked up in the stocks, the main punishment was that it was public. Every would see you bent over and know that you broke the law. The same with the Scarlet letter, it told every one that she had sinned against God.

Asian cultures still operate in this fashion, I see it at work in Korea everyday.

It would work on the Aiel too, although in a different fashion. You could break an Aiel by making them do enough useless work in public and drawing attention to it.