Corporal Punishment

Description of Corporal Punishment

Corporal punishment is the purposeful infliction of physical pain to punish a student for misbehavior. Corporal punishment includes spanking, paddling, pinching, shoving, arm twisting, slapping, and shaking. The immediate goal of corporal punishment is to stop a student's unacceptable behavior, and the longterm goal is to deter students from engaging in misbehavior in the future. Corporal punishment does not include physical restraint or actions a teacher or administrator takes to protect himor herself or others from injury as long as reasonable force is used.

Corporal Punishment in America's Schools

Corporal punishment has been used as a method for disciplining students in America's public schools since colonial times. The roots of the practice can be traced back to England, where corporal punishment is still legal in schools. The rationale for using corporal punishment in the schools is seen in the principle of in loco parentis. According to this principle, school officials stand in place of the parent when a child is in their care. Thus, school officials become both protector and educator of the child. To discharge their duties, school officials were allowed to use reasonable and necessary forms of corporal punishment to establish and maintain a safe and appropriate educational environment.

Beginning in the early 1970s, however, some professional organizations began to issue position statements against the use of corporal punishment in schools. Among these organizations were the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Association on Mental Retardation, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Bar Association, Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, National Association of School Psychologists, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, National Education Association, National Mental Health Association, National Parent Teacher Association, and Society for Adolescent Medicine.

In the 1980s and 1990s, many states banned corporal punishment in their public schools. In fact, 28 states and Washington, DC, now ban the use of corporal punishment. Of the states that permit corporal punishment, several allow corporal punishment to be used when students (a) use tobacco, (b) skip class or school, (c) cheat, (d) refuse to obey school officials, or (e) destroy property. Twenty-two states allow the use of corporal punishment in schools. Many school districts in states that allow corporal punishment, however, have banned the practice. In fact, more than [Page 1241]200 local school boards have banned corporal punishment. Table 1 contains information on these states and the status of corporal punishment in the nation's public schools.

Arguments in Favor of Banning Corporal Punishment in Schools

Advocates in favor of banning corporal punishment cite some of the following reasons for their position: (a) no clear evidence that corporal punishment leads to better control in the classroom; (b) no evidence of an increase in violence or misbehavior in schools that do not use corporal punishment; (c) disproportionate use of corporal punishment with males, students with disabilities, African American students, students from rural areas, and students living in the southern United States; (d) students who are physically punished may strike back, become withdrawn, engage in escape and avoidance behavior, engage in aggressive behavior, or learn to fear and avoid the teacher who administered the punishment; (e) teachers who use corporal punishment may be modeling to the student that aggressive reactions to behavior are appropriate, which may result in the student learning inappropriate and aggressive ways to cope with problems; (f) corporal punishment is associated with later childhood aggression, antisocial behavior, and poor quality of adultchild relationships; (g) documented cases of student injury as the result of school-inflicted corporal punishment; (h) use of punishment procedures, including corporal punishment, does not teach appropriate replacement behaviors.

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