School corporal punishment in the United States
[2] The practice was held constitutional in the 1977 Supreme Court case Ingraham v. Wright, where the Court held that the "cruel and unusual punishments" clause of the Eighth Amendment did not apply to disciplinary corporal punishment in public schools, being restricted to the treatment of prisoners convicted of a crime.
[7] Corporal punishment was widely used in U.S. schools during the 19th and 20th centuries as a way to motivate students to perform better academically and maintain objectively good standards of behavior.
This case set a precedent that schools could discipline children in the way they saw fit, regardless of the wishes of the parent regarding the physical punishment of their child.
[4][12] This case established a precedent of "reasonable, but not excessive" punishment of students and was criticized by some scholars as "an apparent low point in American teacher-student relations.
"[13] The Ingraham v. Wright ruling firmly pushed the decision of whether or not to outlaw corporal punishment in schools squarely onto state legislators.
[14] Even if several US states have approved strong immunity laws, there is always a risk for a principal or a teacher to be sued in court by parents who estimate that the corporal punishment went too far.
In Texas, several principals have seen their certificate put at risk because of corporal punishments administered in previous school districts.
Even when there's been no condemnation from a court, some parents may consider school administrators unfit if they have previously administered corporal punishments to students.
However, the practice itself is at high risk due to the line between punishment and sexual assault being very narrow, especially with teens already in puberty.
[27] As mentioned by Victor Vieth, senior director and founder of the Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center: "If you're leaving it up to teachers" to determine whether a student should be paddled, he said, "I'd tell them you do it at your own risk.
Human Rights Watch conducted a series of interviews with paddled students and teachers in Mississippi and Texas, and found that most corporal punishment was for minor infractions, such as violating the dress code, being tardy, talking in class, running in the hallway and going to the bathroom without permission.
They found that the nature of the child's misbehavior (violent or non-violent) did not meaningfully influence whether the student was physically punished or not.
[55] Many studies have found that there are disparities in the physical punishment of students across racial and ethnic lines, gender and disability status.
[49][page needed][58] When race and gender are considered together, black boys are 16 times as likely to be subject of corporal punishment as white girls.
[62] Children with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities are afforded special protections and services in U.S. public schools.
[49][page needed] According to a report jointly authored by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, the United States Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection for 2006 shows that students with disabilities are subjected to corporal punishment at disproportionately high rates for their share of the population.
[68] These effects can also manifest as low academic engagement and more negative school behaviors, which exacerbate the existing gap in discipline policies along race and gender lines.
[citation needed] The AAP mentioned in particular the risks on mental health issues and anger management problems, in children and teens who received corporal punishments in school.
[71] Moreover, a national survey conducted on teachers ranked corporal punishment as the least effective method to discipline offenders among eight possible techniques.
[72] A bill to end the use of corporal punishment in schools was introduced into the United States House of Representatives in June 2010 during the 111th Congress.
[76] Some scholars, such as Elizabeth Gershoff and Sarah Font, perceive a double standard when it comes to the physical punishment of children versus adults.
The Board of Education in Pickens County, Alabama recommends that teachers use a two-foot-long paddle to discipline children;[77] in some cases, this object is more than half the height of an elementary school-aged child.
[78] The two scholars assert that in any other context, "the act of an adult hitting another person with a board [two feet long] (or really, of any size) would be considered assault with a weapon and would be punishable under criminal law".
