Spanking: Why Exactly?

I believe that many people would relate with me when I say

that I was spanked when I was young. People generally don’t find

it shocking to find out that there are parents who still spank

their children. I really believed that is how we raise children.

I grew up watching TV and movies showing the “bratty” kids.

Hollywood would cast the parents of this unruly child, and they

would proudly say, “We don’t hit our kid!,” all while their eight

year old is throwing a tantrum for some Kit Kats. I will always

remember the saying, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”

I ran with that opinion for a long while, up until just

recently, when someone finally informed me, “We know a lot more

now than we did fifty years ago, you know. Go get some real

facts.” I was taken aback, and then a little ashamed of myself.

Why had I never actually checked into this pretty solid opinion

of mine? I started to question my opinion about physical

discipline being great for childhood development. It was

something I had grown up talking about, and being told about, but

I didn’t really know anything about it. As a society I hope that

we can all educate ourselves and move forward from this. What I

1

hope to persuade, here, to you is that America needs to ban

corporal punishment in all of its forms in order to prepare our

children for a world with less violence and discord.

A quick google search defines corporal punishment as

“punishment administered by an adult (as a parent or a teacher)

to the body of a child ranging in severity from a slap to a

spanking” (Merriam-Webster). That is the second definition. The

first definition of corporal punishment, though, is, “punishment

applied to the body of an offender including the death penalty,

whipping, and imprisonment.” That sure sounds harsh, but why

should it? Corporal punishment in all kinds have been around

forever!

According to G. Geltner in “History of Corporal Punishment”,

the earliest recorded proof of corporal punishment could be the

law “code” of Ur-Namma, which ruled the Sumerian city of Ur

between 2112 to 2095 BCE. These punishments could be seen as a

bit brutish, but fair. Because in these times teaching with

violence was all you could do; living in a violent world, it was

all you would know. “The vast majority of the text’s 85 surviving

promulgations prescribe monetary penalties or rewards and a mere

2

handful order the death penalty. On three occasions alone is the

infliction of non‐lethal physical harm considered meet: ‘If a man

fractures another man’s skull in a fistfight, they will flog him

180 times’ (§22)” (qtd in Geltner 2). In a time where not many

were educated, of course, there would be means of teaching people

with violence. This was the way that many handled disputes, it

was common place.

It wasn’t until two thousand years later we begun to see

signs of a more modern approach to punishment in Greece and Rome.

During this time, there was a change happening: punishments did

not happen between men, but more so moved to judicial assemblies

and “quasi-professional courts”.“The most celebrated instances of

which were produced under Draco in 621 BCE and Solon in 594 BCE”

(Geltner 5). But it is important to understand that during this

time, mostly slaves were subjected to this sort of thing. To free

citizens it was viewed as demeaning. Status was very important

when determining whether or not you would be physically punished;

it could still be thought of like this today in some ways I

guess. Though, children were often the exception here as well, it

did not matter your parents status, punishment was inevitable,

3

because, somehow, age determines status and how you can be

punished as well.

Geltner goes on to the history of religion's role in

corporal punishment, particularly Jewish, Islamic, and Christian

Faiths. “Tracing these religions’ pertinent ideas and practices,

while not exhaustive of long-term trends, nonetheless offers a

palpable link between antiquity and the medieval period, and

their joint legacy at present” (Geltner 6). These religions held

these practices in between the second century and the fifteenth,

put simply. This is important to understand not just because

these are still the major faiths held today, but because these

were common practices, and learning basic disciplining techniques

from the past can help us to understand how we got to where we

are as human beings. We choose to look into the past to better

understand the future. The first faith studied was Judaism as

well as Islam.

Judaism followed lex talionis in their practice of punishment,

“‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe’” (qtd in

Geltner 6). The Jewish people were best known for the “striping”

4

though, better known as flogging. Though flogging was only stated

once in the Old Testament in terms of punishment, Jewish

legislatures turned to flogging as a “staple penalty”. Though

upon the completion of the Bible in the third century, the

Mishnah expanded its use of whipping to some one hundred sixty-

eight offences, even including dietary transgressions. Though in

this time it is important to note the differences between the

previous time that there was not much of a discrimination in

social class. The Jewish culture lightened up overtime in their

level of punishments, though flogging was still the most common

punishment during this time period. Islamic Jurists followed

almost the same practice during this time period, but in their

own situation, there was no separation of church and state at

all. Some of their offences included slander and sexual

misconduct, and their punishments were typically flogging or

dismemberment depending on the offense. There are still many

Muslim countries that practice corporal punishment today.

Christianity was different from these two faiths in that they

rejected any form of physical punishment, though they had

different ways of getting around that..

5

Early Christianity favored abstinence and incarceration in

their ways of punishment. But that was not always the case.

“Church leaders and, later, Canon lawyers promoted the use of,

inter alia, severe fasts, flagellation (also self-inflicted), and

exposure to extreme weather as ways to foster discipline and

“medicate” against sin, first within ascetic and monastic

milieus, and later, among laymen” (Geltner 8). it is strange, to

say the least, when a religion formed with the basic idea of

“turn the other cheek” would still resort to causing physical

pain to pay for their sins. The next most important to note is

the age of enlightenment and its effect on Europe in the

seventeen hundreds and on.

Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) as

well as many others during the Age of Enlightenment maneuvered

Western Europe into a more “peaceful” era, creating a revisionist

view on punishment. This meant leaning away from traditional

means of punishment and creating an incarceration system. These

historic prisons were still very dangerous and inhumane, but the

idea was that imprisoning people was a more malleable means of

punishment. The idea has changed from violence preventing illegal

6

acts, to something less so. The Age of Enlightenment urged others

to develop reasoning skills and to employ logic, and when that is

practiced, less violence is needed. We have made progress with

incarceration as well.

Not even prisoners are allowed to be punished physically

anymore; prisons have become much more humane, and rightfully so.

We try to protect children from being put behind bars, but

prisoners are still being punished better than the underage. That

is over exaggerated of course, but why is it that we don’t punish

adults the way we do children? Because it is ridiculous. The

American Bar Association’s “Treatment of Prisoners” Standards

states that “these Correctional authorities should use force

against a prisoner only:

(i) to protect and ensure the safety of

staff, prisoners, and others; to prevent

serious property damage; or to prevent

escape;

(ii) if correctional authorities

reasonably believe the benefits of force

7

outweigh the risks to prisoners and staff;

and

(iii) as a last alternative after other

reasonable efforts to resolve the situation

have failed” (ABA).

Why are we still hitting the new life in this world for

punishment, and we won’t with people who have really messed up?

The laws have been made to protect our wrongdoers from cruel and

unusual punishment. Meaning that if something clearly wrong were

going on, then it is possible that charges can be brought against

the abuser, unlike in the current time where there is no

prohibition of corporal punishment in children. In the situations

with children, a child abuser may assault their child in public,

and nothing could be done unless there were bruises, or a show of

extreme cruelty. Child abuse is difficult to prove. If corporal

punishment were to be made illegal, more of these people could be

found and tried. But with all of this being said, is there

anything we can do to better this situation? Spanking is so

ingrained in our culture, what do we do about it? That is why my

endgame here is to convince you, my readers, that corporal

8

punishment should be made illegal in its entirety. As a country,

I believe we have a social responsibility to protect to next

generation from the harmful effects of physical discipline.

I read an article written by Kim Oates, which was published

in the Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health. Oates compiled many

different studies to argue for Australia banning corporal

punishment. “In a meta-analysis of 88 studies on physical

punishment, Gershoff found that physical punishment is related to

immediate compliance, but that it is also associated overall with

10 undesirable outcomes including aggression, anti-social

behaviour, poor mental health in child and adult life as well as

an increased risk of violence of the victims towards their own

children and their partner” (505).These outcomes can be quickly

defined as externalizing behavior and internalizing behavior.

Externalizing behaviors are the physical behaviors that result

from the use of physical punishment, such as bullying, hitting,

or general aggression. Internalizing behavior are the non

physical behaviors: anti-social behavior, depression, and

anxiety. I would like to reiterate: in 88 studies, 88 times,

physical punishment was studied, and they found direct

9

correlations between the subject and these undesirable effects.

Even if you thought you could physically discipline your child

without damaging them, why would you want to risk putting strain

on them like that?

By understanding the basic definition, it may be understood

that corporal punishment did not always mean the punishment of

children. Why have we limited our definition down to children?

That may be because physical punishment is unthinkable as a means

of teaching between adults at this current time. But what if we

learn how to best physically discipline our children? I always

thought that when I had children of my own, I would do it better

than anyone. I would think that children just need to have it

explained to them why they are being punished. If children knew

why they were being spanked, they wouldn’t do it again.

One piece of writing by Richard J. Petts and Ashleigh E.

Kysar-Moon, does pose an interesting question: Does religious

affiliation affect the level of externalizing behavior after

physical punishment? The hypotheses stated that, “Protestants may

be less likely to experience negative outcomes associated with

corporal punishment due to:

10

(1) adherence to guidelines that may minimize the

risk of harm from corporal punishment, and

(2) corporal punishment being used as part of a

consistent parenting strategy”(1).

It was found in studies cited by Petts and Kysar-Moon that

Protestants, as well as low income parents and single mothers are

more likely to use corporal punishment (446). The hypotheses

stated, however, confuse me: are they saying other families don’t

have guidelines or a consistent strategy and go around willy

nilly spanking their children when ever?

This particular study is important because of the questions

made into whether or not the level of maternal warmth received

after an experience of spanking will diminish, or negate the

negative effects of corporal punishment. Warmth in this setting

means the amount of comfort given to the child, whether it be

holding the child or talking to them about how they are or how

they are feeling. Because, according to Lee, Altschul, and

Gershoff, “Any form of discipline, including spanking, is thought

to be more effective in the context of parental warmth because a

positive parent–child relationship motivates children to take on

11

the values and behaviors endorsed by their parents and to

reciprocate positive behaviors from parents with positive

behaviors of their own” (2018). I wondered whether or not that

was what Protestants must be able to do better than other

cultures. They must know better than others about comforting

their child or something..

Petts and Kysar-Moon used data compiled with 1,214 families

from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to create

their paper. What they found was to be added on the the research

that had already been found on the subject, they were trying to

re-prove the hypothesis. “This study explored why and under what

conditions parental conservative Protestant affiliation moderates

the relationship between corporal punishment and children’s

problem behavior” (Petts, Kysar-Moon 448). Research shows that

Protestants are more likely than other religions to use corporal

punishment with their children (448). So, could it be that their

rules on corporal punishment really do protect their offspring

from unnecessary damage?

What the two researchers found was informative. They found

that in Protestant families where only the father spanked the

12

children, there was a noticeable difference in externalizing

behaviors. “One explanation for why the relationship between

corporal punishment and children's behavior may be different for

conservative Protestants is that conservative Protestant

childrearing manuals provide strict guidelines about when and how

corporal punishment should be used in order to prevent harm to

children” (Petts, Kysar-Moon 448). Though, even if there were

less externalizing behaviour, or acting out behavior, in these

families, the analysis suggested that there was no statistical

difference in the level of internalizing behaviors, meaning

antisocial or depressive behavior, between the Protestant

families and the others in the study. This means that there were

just as many depressed or antisocial children in both groups

experiencing corporal punishment.

In the association with maternal warmth and corporal

punishment, Lee, Altschul, and Gershoff found in their study,

Does Warmth Moderate Longitudinal Associations Between Maternal Spanking and

Child Aggression in Early Childhood?, that there is no correlation between

warmth and levels of externalizing behaviour.

13

The results of the current study extend

the growing evidence against spanking as a

child-rearing practice by showing that

maternal warmth does not moderate the

influence of spanking on child aggression. At

all time points, maternal spanking was

associated with increased subsequent child

aggression, regardless of whether the mother–

child relationship was characterized by low,

moderate, or high levels of warmth, and even

after accounting for transactional parent–

child associations. (Lee, Altschul, and

Gershoff 2026)

Even if the child feels loved and cared for, there are still

actions being shown to that child that they will react to. If you

raise your children in an unstable home, they will grow to expect

that. No matter how much you hold your baby, they will still

experience the hurt if you bring it upon them. They learn to be

an adult from you, so don’t teach them to punish the ones they

love with violence. We have since grown out of the barbaric

14

violence stated in the beginning of this paper. We know better

now, why would we want to move backwards?

What was actually shocking for me to learn was that there

are still nineteen states that have not banned corporal

punishment in schools (Strauss). I learned that this was still

going on when I was out with a couple of my friends while I was

in the Air Force stationed on Kadena Air Base. We had a couple

drinks and started to tell some stories about our childhood. The

woman that I learned all of this from had grown up in Oklahoma.

She started on this memory of when she skipped class and decided

to get caned by the principal rather than take detention. She was

shocked when the rest of us didn’t relate, rather we sat there

dumbfounded.

I was floored trying to understand the idea of teachers

being able to physically punish students. I understand that

teenagers can be very independant, and sometimes downright rude,

but it seems so barbaric to take a switch to someone for acting

like a child, especially when they, essentially, are one. This is

an age where people are still learning social expectations, and

they won’t know how to unless they are shown a real role model.

15

It seemed like such a normal thing to her, and it was even more

interesting learning how little it actually disciplined her. She

thought that taking a whooping was way easier and less time

consuming than detention; many of her classmates decided on that

alternative as well.

According to a website titled endcorporalpunishment.org, there

are forty-three countries since December 2014 that have banned

all forms of corporal punishment towards children completely. Not

counted in this are the countries Italy and Nepal, who have both

set forth minor laws, discriminating against corporal punishment.

In 1996 Italy’s Supreme Court declared corporal punishment to be

unlawful, but has not been put forth in legislature. “In Nepal in

2005, the Supreme Court declared null and void the legal defence

in the Child Act allowing parents, guardians and teachers to

administer a "minor beating"; the Child Act is yet to be amended

to confirm this” (End Corporal Punishment).

What was found through studying these countries has been

extremely informative concerning the opinions of parents about

corporal punishment within these countries. A manuscript written

by Bussmann, Kai-D. Claudia Erthal, and Andreas Schroth

16

recognizes the effects that banning corporal punishment had on

the European countries, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Spain and

France. The introduction to this manuscript explains that in

1989, during the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the

Child, it was determined that all children throughout the would

have a right to be reared without violence. And at the time of

this manuscript being written there were eighteen European

nations that had decided to make this idea law by banning

corporal punishment. Sweden was the first to do this in 1979, and

all the other nations adopted their laws based on Sweden’s.

“Several international studies have claimed that this ban on

corporal punishment has helped to reduce violent childrearing in

Sweden and exerted a major influence on both the attitudes and

behavior of parents” (2). What next is interesting to note is

that Sweden has one of the lowest murder rates in the world, .89,

while America holds a murder rate of 5 (Edsel. G).

17

This image from Bussmann, Kai-D. Claudia Erthal, and Andreas

Schroth, found on page thirteen of their manuscript, shows that

the effects of banning corporal punishment in a country may

quicken the rate of disapproval towards corporal punishment, but

I cannot say for certain since there are countries outside of the

bans that have lowered their approval rates for physical

discipline during this time as well. It is important to note that

in countries with informative campaigns as well as the

18

prohibition maintained a lower approval rate throughout the

years.

America is far behind this movement though, “using seven

nationally representative samples gathered in this 24-year

period, they found that overall approval rates of using corporal

punishment against children dropped from 94% in 1968 to 68% in

1994” (Douglas). There are cultural differences, like income,

race, gender, and religion within America that differ the

approval rates for corporal punishment. Where you live, whether

your parents physically disciplined you, or your culture all have

an impact on how you view corporal punishment. And if you were

spanked as a child, there is a much higher chance of you spanking

your own children. We are all different but hopefully we can all

have a common understanding in this.

One may believe that we could use informative campaigns on

their own to endorse a spanking free culture, but that is not the

case. “In the nations with no codified prohibition at the time

of the survey, almost one half of all families practiced a

violent form of childrearing. Nonetheless, more than 80% of

parents in all nations strive to rear their children with as

19

little violence as possible regardless of the law” (Bussmann,

Kai-D. Claudia Erthal, and Andreas Schroth). It has been found

that creating a prohibition against corporal punishment is what

really creates a noticeable, lasting effect to the masses. These

campaigns help to keep the public informed on why we shouldn’t

physically discipline our children, but they are not what in the

end sanctions them. That is why prohibition of corporal

punishment is joined with an informative campaign together. That

is why corporal punishment needs to be made illegal; so it is at

least, consistently understood that hitting anyone is against the

law.

Creating a law increases the cultural disapproval, and what,

in turn, is what really turns us off of corporal punishment.

Spanking is only so popular in America because it is expected,

and approved of in many cultures. Going back to the child in my

metaphor, the bratty one crying for Kit Kats, people would

wonder, “do these people discipline their child at all? That kid

deserves a spanking for acting like that!”. There were many times

I would walk through a grocery store, and there would be a

wailing child, and I would think, “they should really control

20

their child, what kind of parent lets this go on?”. But that is

the problem, what brought me to believe that the parents were not

doing their best, and maybe, they knew more than me in the

beginning, that swatting their kid on the behind was not going to

help anything besides making everyone else feel better and making

the child feel even worse. Children cry out because they do not

yet have the social skills to explain what they want, or how they

feel properly yet. We must show through our actions, what you do

when you want really something.

Even if we could suggest that we would know how to best

physically discipline our children, why would we need to involve

causing physical pain in our children in the first place? Even

though many people have grown up just fine experiencing corporal

punishment, did they need to? Children are known to be incredibly

versatile, surviving horrific and extremely damaging abuse and

somehow become productive members to society all of the time, but

how much better off would those poor children be if they had been

spared? I believe they would be much better off. Corporal

punishment is not as effective as other forms of discipline, that

can be determined concretely at this point, so that is the real

21

question, why do we do it? Could it be, though disturbing as it

is to think about, even though we may agree that physically

disciplining our children is bad, we may do it ourselves, not to

teach the child something, but to relieve stress from ourselves?

“Whipping a child for uttering profanity is a disciplinary

measure means to foster a certain behavioral norm that may or may

not be strongly frowned upon outside the school or home; and

slapping a spouse for sexual infidelity has less to do with

enforcing a law than with expressing shame or frustration over a

given situation” (Geltner 10). As a society we could learn to

express our frustration and shame in a healthier manner.

If we can accept that swatting a child’s behind doesn’t help

anyone in the long run, we can hopefully move towards passing

laws in our own country, and protecting children from unnecessary

abuse. That will not stop the punishers themselves, but over

time, our opinions will change as a nation, and hopefully more

bystanders can speak up when they witness abuse. Raising children

is complex and messy, most of the time we learn on the job, and

there is no predetermined “right way” in raising children, but

please, lets learn this first.

22

Works Cited

Bussmann, Kai-D. Claudia Erthal, and Andreas Schroth. “The Effect

of Banning

Corporal Punishment in Europe: A Five-Nation Comparison”.

Germany: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 2009. Web. 15 Mar.

2015.

“Corporal Punishment” Merriam-Webster. n.p. n.d. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.

Criminal Justice Standards Committee “Treatment of Prisoners”.

5th Ed. Washington

D.C.: American Bar Association. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

23

Douglas, Emily M. “Familial Violence Socialization in Childhood

and Later Life Approval

of Corporal Punishment: A Cross-Cultural Perspective”.

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2006, Vol. 76. Web. 15 Mar. 15.

Edsel. G “Country vs country: Sweden and United States compared:

Crime stats”

Nation Master, 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

End Corporal Punishment. The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of

Children, April 2001. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

Geltner, G. “History of Corporal Punishment”. Encyclopedia of

Criminology and Criminal

Justice, New York: Springer, 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 15.

Oates, Kim. “Physical Punishment Of Children: Can We Continue To

Accept The Status

Quo?”.Journal Of Paediatrics & Child Health 47.8 (2011): 505-507.

Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

Petts, Richard, and Ashleigh Kysar-Moon. “Child Discipline And

Conservative

Protestantism:Why The Relationship Between Corporal

Punishment And Child Behavior Problems May Vary By Religious

24

Context”. Review Of Religious Research 54.4 (2012): 445-468.

Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

Strauss, Valerie. “19 States Still Allow Corporal Punishment in

School”. The Washington

Post 18 Sept. 2014. Web 20 Feb. 2015.

Lee, Altschul, and G. Gershoff. “Does Warmth Moderate

Longitudinal Associations

Between Maternal Spanking and Child Aggression in Early

Childhood?”. Developmental Psychology 49.11 (2013): 2017–2028.

Web. 19 Mar. 15

25