Corporal punishment

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Corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain intended to discipline or reform a wrongdoer or change a person's bad attitude and/or bad behaviour. The term usually refers to methodically striking the offender with an implement, whether in judicial, domestic, or educational settings.

Corporal punishment may be divided into three main types:

• parental or domestic corporal punishment, i.e. the spanking of children within the family;
• school corporal punishment, i.e. of school students by teachers or other school officials;
• judicial corporal punishment, involving the official caning or whipping of convicted offenders (whether adult or juvenile) by order of a court of law.

The corporal punishment of minors within the home is lawful in all 50 of the United States and, according to a 2000 survey, it is widely approved by parents.^[1] It has been officially outlawed in 24 countries around the world.^[2]

Corporal punishment in school is still legal in some parts of the world, including about half the States of the U.S., but has been outlawed in others, including Canada, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand, and nearly all of Europe except the Czech Republic^[3] and France.^[4]

Judicial corporal punishment has virtually disappeared from the western world but remains in force in many parts of Africa and Asia.

Contents 1 History of corporal punishment 2 Modern use 2.1 Corporal punishment in the home 2.2 Corporal punishment in schools 2.3 Judicial or quasi-judicial punishment 2.4 Pros and cons of corporal punishment 3 Anatomical target 4 Ritual and punishment 4.1 Corporal punishment, paraphilia and fetishism 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History of corporal punishment

While the early history of corporal punishment is unclear, the practice was certainly present in classical civilizations, being used in Greece, Rome, and Egypt for both judicial and educational discipline. Practices varied greatly, though scourging and beating with sticks were common. Some states gained a reputation for using such punishments cruelly; Sparta, in particular, used them frequently as part of a disciplinary regime designed to build willpower and physical strength. Although the Spartan example was extreme, corporal punishment was possibly the most frequent type of punishment. In the Roman Empire, the maximum penalty allowed by law was 40 "lashes" or "strokes" with a whip applied to the back and shoulders, or with the "fasces" (similar to a birch rod, though consisting of 8-10 lengths of willow rather than birch) applied to the buttocks. Such punishments could draw blood, and were frequently inflicted in public.

In Medieval Europe, corporal punishment was encouraged by the attitudes of the medieval church towards the human body, flagellation being a common means of self-discipline. This had an influence on the use of corporal punishment in schools, as educational establishments were closely attached to the church during this period. Nevertheless, corporal punishment was not used uncritically; as early as the eleventh century Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury was speaking out against what he saw as the excessive use of corporal punishment in the treatment of children.^[5]

From the 16th century onwards, new trends were seen in corporal punishment. Judicial punishments were increasingly turned into public spectacles, with public beatings of criminals intended as a deterrent to other would-be offenders. Meanwhile, early writers on education, such as Roger Ascham, complained of the arbitrary manner in which children were punished.^[6] Perhaps the most influential writer on the subject was the English philosopher John Locke, whose Some Thoughts Concerning Education explicitly criticised the central role of corporal punishment in education. Locke's work was highly influential, and may have helped influence Polish legislators to ban corporal punishment from Poland's schools in 1783.^[7]

During the 18th century, the concept of corporal punishment was attacked both by philosophers and by legal reformers. Merely inflicting pain on miscreants was seen as inefficient, influencing the subject only for a short period of time and effecting no permanent change in their behaviour. Some believed that the purpose of punishment should be reformation, not retribution. This is perhaps best expressed in Jeremy Bentham's idea of a panoptic prison, in which prisoners were controlled and surveyed at all times, perceived to be advantageous in that this system supposedly reduced the need of measures such as corporal punishment.^[8]

This mode of thinking probably helped bring about a gradual diminution of corporal punishment during the 19th century in much of Europe and in North America, at least as far as judicial penalties were concerned. In the case of school corporal punishment, however, this was outweighed by the growth of universal education, such as in Britain from 1870. Many countries at least introduced official regulations governing the use of corporal punishment in state institutions such as schools and reformatories.

In the United Kingdom, sentences of judicial corporal punishment declined during the first half of the 20th century, while many other European countries had already abolished it altogether. Meanwhile in many schools, the use of the cane, paddle or tawse remained commonplace in the U.K. and the United States until the 1980s. In several other countries, it still is: see School corporal punishment.

[edit] Modern use

[edit] Corporal punishment in the home

Domestic corporal punishment, i.e. of children and adolescents by their parents, is usually referred to colloquially as "spanking", "smacking" or "slapping".

In some parts of the world, it is increasingly controversial. See Corporal punishment in the home for arguments for and against.

In an increasing number of countries it has been outlawed, starting with Sweden in 1979.^[2] In some other countries, such as Canada, corporal punishment is legal, but restricted (blows to a certain part of the body, such as the head, are outlawed, implements may not be used, and only children of a certain age may be spanked). See Corporal punishment in the home for more information about the legal situation in individual countries.

Spanking by parents is legal in all 50 of the United States. Recent attempts to ban it in Massachusetts and California were defeated.

[edit] Corporal punishment in schools

Corporal punishment of school students for misbehaviour involves striking the student on the buttocks or the palm of the hand in a premeditated ceremony with an implement specially kept for the purpose such as a paddle, or with the open hand.

It is not to be confused with cases where a teacher lashes out on the spur of the moment, which is not "corporal punishment" but violence or brutality, and is illegal almost everywhere.

Corporal punishment used to be prevalent in schools in many parts of the world, but in recent decades it has been outlawed in nearly all of Europe, and in Japan, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and other countries. It remains commonplace and lawful in many Asian and African countries. For details of individual countries see School corporal punishment.

In the United States, the Supreme Court ruled in Ingraham v. Wright (1977) that school corporal punishment is exempt from the Eight Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments. Paddling is used in schools in a number of Southern states, though it is on the decline.

In the UK, corporal punishment was outlawed in state schools in 1986 and in all private schools by 2003.

Corporal punishment of male students has, in most cultures, generally been more prevalent and more severe than that of female students,^[9] but this generally applies to other forms of punishment as well, and probably relates partly to long-standing perceptions that boys are simply less well behaved than girls on average, especially during adolescence. In Queensland, Australia, school corporal punishment of girls was banned in 1934 but for boys in private schools it is still legal as of 2009.^[10] In Singapore, schoolboys are routinely caned for misbehaviour while the caning of girls at school is forbidden by law. In the U.S., statistics consistently show that about 80% of school paddlings are of boys.

[edit] Judicial or quasi-judicial punishment

Some societies retain widespread use of judicial corporal punishment, including a number of former British territories such as Botswana, Malaysia, Singapore and Tanzania. In Malaysia and Singapore, for certain specified offences, males are routinely sentenced to caning in addition to a prison term. The Singaporean practice of caning became much discussed around the world in 1994 when American teenager Michael P. Fay was caned for vandalism.

A number of countries with an Islamic legal system, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and northern Nigeria, employ judicial whipping for a range of offences. As of 2009, some regions of Pakistan are experiencing a breakdown of law and government, leading to a reintroduction of corporal punishment by ad hoc Islamicist courts.^[11] As well as floggings, Saudi Arabia uses amputations or mutilation as a method of punishment.^[12] Such penalties are highly controversial.^[13][14] However, the term "corporal punishment" usually means caning or whipping and has not traditionally been used to embrace other kinds of physical penalties such as amputation.

[edit] Pros and cons of corporal punishment

Corporal punishment offers several advantages, such as that it is quicker to implement than other punishments, and costs nothing. In the case of parental spanking, it can be an instant corrective to misbehaviour by the child, though it might well be more effective if preceded and followed by a calm discussion.^{[citation needed]} See Corporal punishment in the home#Pros and cons.

Where school corporal punishment is concerned, those who support its use point to the fact that as soon as the student has been punished he can go back to his class and continue learning.^{[citation needed]} This contrasts with most other kinds of school punishment, which waste a lot of staff time on e.g. supervising detention classes or in-school suspension.^{[citation needed]}

Where corporal punishment is offered as an alternative to out-of-school suspension, the student is able to continue in education instead of sitting at home or loitering in the streets, which is an arrangement likely to be regarded by the student as having a free holiday.^{[citation needed]}

Strong evidence exists that the use of physical punishment has a number of inherent risks regarding the physical and mental health and well-being of children.^[15]

The American Psychological Association opposes the use of corporal punishment in schools, juvenile facilities, child care nurseries, and all other institutions, public or private, where children are cared for or educated. It claims that corporal punishment is violent and unnecessary, may lower self-esteem, and is liable to instil hostility and rage without reducing the undesired behavior.^[16]

The APA also states that corporal punishment is likely to train children to use physical violence. This view is opposed by the philosopher Prof. David Benatar, who points out that one might as well say that fining people teaches that forcing others to give up some of their property is an acceptable way to respond to those who act in a way that one does not like. "Why don't detentions, imprisonments, fines, and a multitude of other punishments convey equally undesirable messages?" He adds that "there is all the difference in the world between legitimate authorities -- the judiciary, parents, or teachers -- using punitive powers responsibly to punish wrongdoing, and children or private citizens going around beating each other, locking each other up, and extracting financial tributes (such as lunch money). There is a vast moral difference here and there is no reason why children should not learn about it. Punishing children when they do wrong seems to be one important way of doing this."^[17]

[edit] Anatomical target

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Different parts of the anatomy may be targeted:

• The buttocks, whether clothed or bare, have often been targeted for punishment, particularly in Europe and the English-speaking world. Indeed, some languages have a specific word for their chastisement: spanking or smacking in English, fessée in French, nalgada in Spanish (both Romanesque words directly derived from the word for buttock). The advantage is that these fleshy body parts are robust and can be chastised accurately, without endangering any bodily functions; they heal well and relatively quickly; in some cultures punishment applied to the buttocks entails a degree of humiliation, which may or may not be intended as part of the punishment.
• Chastising the back of the thighs and calves, as sometimes in South Korean schools, is at least as painful if not more so, but this can cause more damage in terms of scars and bruising.
• The upper back and the shoulders have historically been a target for whipping, e.g. with the cat-o'-nine-tails in the Royal Navy, and also today generally in the Middle East and the Islamic world.
• The head is a very dangerous place to hit, especially "boxing the ears".
• The hand is very sensitive and delicate, and use of an implement could cause excessive damage.^[18]
• The soles of the feet are extremely sensitive, and flogging them (falaka), as has been sometimes done in the Middle East, is excruciating and cruel.

[edit] Ritual and punishment

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Corporal punishment in official settings, such as schools and prisons, has typically been carried out as a formal ceremony, with a standard procedure, emphasising the solemnity of the occasion. In the past it has sometimes even been staged in a ritual manner in front of other students/inmates, in order to act as a deterrent to others.

In the case of prison or judicial punishments, formal punishment might begin with the offender stripped of some or all of their clothing and secured to a piece of furniture, such as a trestle or frame,^[19][20] (X-cross), punishment horse or falaka. In some cases the nature of the offence is read out and the sentence (consisting of a predetermined number of strokes) is formally imposed. A variety of implements may be used to inflict blows on the offender. The terms used to describe these are not fixed, varying by country and by context. There are, however, a number of common types which are encountered when reading about corporal punishment. These are:

• The rod. A thin, flexible rod is often called a switch.
• The birch, a number of strong, flexible branches of birch or similar wood, bound together with twine into a single implement.
• The rattan cane (not bamboo as it is often wrongly described). Much favoured in the British Commonwealth for both school and judicial use.
• The paddle, a flat wooden board with a handle, with or without holes. Used in U.S. schools.
• The strap. A strap with a number of tails at one end is called a tawse in Scotland and northern England.
• The whip, typically of leather. Varieties include the Russian knout and South African sjambok, in addition to the scourge and martinet.
• The cat o' nine tails was a popular implement used in naval discipline.
• The hairbrush and belt are traditionally used in the United States and Great Britain as an implement for domestic spanking.
• The plimsoll gym shoe, used in British and Commonwealth schools, often called "the slipper". See Slippering (punishment).
• The ferula, in Jesuit schools, as vividly described in a scene in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

In some instances the offender is required to prepare the implement himself. For instance, sailors were employed in preparing the cat o' nine tails which would be used upon their own back, while school students were sometimes sent out to cut a switch or rod.

In contrast, informal punishments, particularly in domestic settings, tend to lack this ritual nature and are often administered with whatever object comes to hand. It is common, for instance, for belts, wooden spoons, slippers, hairbrushes or coathangers to be used in domestic punishment, whilst rulers and other classroom equipment have been used in schools.

In parts of England, boys were formerly beaten under the old tradition of "Beating the Bounds" whereby a boy was paraded around the edge of a city or parish and would be spanked with a switch or cane to mark the boundary.^[21] One famous "Beating the Bounds" took place around the boundary of St Giles and the area where Tottenham Court Road now stands in central London. The actual stone that separated the boundary is now underneath the Centre Point office tower.^[22]

[edit] Corporal punishment, paraphilia and fetishism

The German psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing suggested that sadism and masochism may develop out of the experience of children receiving corporal punishment at school.^[23] But this was disputed by Sigmund Freud, who found that, where there was a sexual interest in corporal punishment, it developed in early childhood, and rarely related to actual experiences of punishment.^[24]

[edit] See also

• Birching
• Caning
• Caning in Malaysia
• Caning in Singapore
• Capital punishment
• Child discipline
• Corporal punishment in Taiwan
• Corporal punishment in the home
• Domestic violence
• Flagellation
• Foot whipping
• Hotsaucing
• Judicial corporal punishment
• Paddle (spanking)
• School corporal punishment
• Slippering
• Spanking
• Tawse
• Washing out mouth with soap

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance spanking page
• List of worldwide bans on Corporal Punishment at Center for Effective Discipline
• World Corporal Punishment Research