Does Your School Use Corporal Punishment?

Family/Kids, Relationships, Rights

A recent story on NPR reports that 19 states allow corporal punishment—colloquially known as “paddling”—in public schools, a number that seems shockingly high in 2012. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that American kids are still being hit as punishment for bad behavior. Corporal punishment is probably as old as humankind—it certainly goes back to ancient civilizations, where physical pain as punishment was par for the course.

It wasn’t until the mid-19th century, in fact, that whipping a child in school was even questioned. The first trial opposing the practice occurred in 1866, when the parents of a child who had been hit 15-20 times with a whip by his teacher filed suit in protest against the “unnecessary and brutal act.” Though the case was closed, it stirred up public sentiment and in 1868, parents in one Massachusetts town attempted, unsuccessfully, to abolish the practice. Finally, in 1877, New York State became the first to abolish corporal punishment in schools.

So, where does corporal punishment in schools stand today? Are kids still getting hit, and is it effective?

Paddling in the U.S.

As of now, 31 states and the District of Columbia have banned school-administered corporal punishment, although some of these states still allow it if it doesn’t involve “holding a student or struggling with a student.” In the 19 states where it’s still legal, many districts don’t practice corporal punishment even though they could. It’s primarily found in the Deep South, and more commonly practiced in poor, rural areas. Though it’s been steadily declining, as of 2006 (the last year for which the Center for Effective Discipline has records) 223,190 children were hit as punishment in U.S. schools. The vast majority of these cases occurred in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas. Even among states who have outlawed corporal punishment, only two—New Jersey and Iowa—have also made it illegal in private schools.

Paddling in Texas and Florida

The state of Texas is the leader in school corporal punishment, having paddled 49,197 children in 2006 (although in terms of percentage of students hit, Mississippi leads with 7.5 percent to Texas’ 1.1 percent). This is significant because of the recent and controversial decision by one Texas school board to allow students to be paddled by school administrators of the opposite gender with a parent’s permission. The decision came after a 15-year-old female student was paddled by a male vice principal, which was against district policy at the time. Although the student asked to receive corporal punishment in lieu of in-school suspension and her mother gave permission, she later complained that the vice principal had used excessive force and that she had expected a woman to carry out the punishment.

The NPR story on corporal punishment covered the practice in Florida, specifically, and revealed that there are few regulations in the state when it comes to paddling students. In fact, a school administrator has the legal authority to paddle a student without the permission of the parents. Schools are civilly and criminally exempt from prosecution for swatting students unless a parent can prove excessive force was used or that the punishment was cruel and unusual.

Does corporal punishment work?

Plenty of parents and school officials believe that corporal punishment makes children behave, and that it’s the only effective tool for teaching right from wrong. However, research indicates otherwise. Scientists have found that corporal punishment teaches that violence is a valid way to solve problems, lowers academic achievement, increases aggression and antisocial behavior, and decreases internalization of moral rules. In fact, despite the fears of corporal punishment proponents, the rate of school violence has decreased along with the decrease in the use of paddling instead of the other way around.

It is also interesting to note that, according to statistics collected by the Center for Effective Discipline, school shooting deaths were significantly higher in states that allow corporal punishment.

Paddling by District

Corporal punishment not only varies by state, but by district, which means that schools that allow it are the only public institutions in the country where hitting someone is legal; it has been outlawed in prisons, mental hospitals, and the military. While over 100 nations worldwide have banned the practice outright, the United States continues to leave paddling as punishment up to individual states, districts, or schools. Given the fact that minority, disabled, poor, and male children are 2-5 times more likely to be paddled than other groups, perhaps it will become the next big civil rights cause.