1
Corporal Punishment
Shanasia Freeman
Liberty University
DBFA 400-B01
Professor Elizabeth Debolt
June 8, 2021
2
Defining Corporal Punishment
Corporal punishment by definition is physical punishment, causing pain or discomfort in
response to a child’s s deviant behavior. (American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, 2018). Behavior by children that does not conform to social norms and values is
prescribed as deviant and a complex entity. Children and parents both come from various walks
of life and in retrospect to that the manner in which one desires to discipline their child may vary
also. One parent may choose to have a more passive approach to punishing their child while
others may have a more stringent approach. Corporal punishment may have a negative
connotation due to spanking, whooping’s, hitting or overall, any physical contact that one inflicts
on a child who distributes deviant behavior. “Corporal punishment can be harmful when used
wrongly.” (Dobson, 2014)
On the contrary there are ways in which we can combat deviant behaviors in children.
Scripture conveys several scriptures that endow corporal punishment. “Fathers, do not provoke
your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the lord.” (New
King James Version Bible. 1982, Ephesians 6:4). Scripture also states, “Do not withhold
discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die,” (New King James Version
Bible, 1982, Proverbs 19:18). Corporal punishment is not solely a con but can be used as a tool
of management or reinforcement to keep children in line. If used correctly, corporal punishment
can be used to help a child more than it causes harm. There is a fine line between effectively
3
discipling a child and committing abuse. In no way shape or form is abuse in any benefit of
children. There is a distinction between spanking and physical punishment. “Abusive forms of
physical punishment such as kicking, punching, and beating are commonly grouped with mild
spanking.” (Dobson, 2014). In lieu of the strong-willed child, statistics show coming from “a
relatively ‘healthy’ family life in a supportive environment, spanking in and of itself is not
detrimental to the child or predictive of later problems,” (Dobson, 2014).
Discussing Cultural Variances in Corporal Punishment
While many make the argument that spankings is not an ideal form of punishment, there
are no detrimental effects of corporal punishments in the form of spankings as they are not a
form of abuse if done correctly and additionally there is no supporting facts that prove spankings
should be censure. The second argument posed physical punishment encourages children to hit
people when they do something wrong when in actuality it is not the fact that corporal physical
punishment is used but how people intend to you use. Well balanced parents do not act
irrationally off of emotion or act in rage inflicting harm onto their children. “The balanced,
prudent use of disciplinary spanking, is a deterrent to aggressive behavior with some children.”
(Dobson, 2014). Other arguments include that anger, harm, spanking teaching “might makes
right and essential abuse is derivative of physical punishment. Spankings and corporal
punishment, if used in more of an authoritative way opposed to an aggressive manner is just.
Dobson’s guidelines to parent’s include being rational before resulting to spankings, talking it out
and deliberately being coherent once deciding to utilize that form of discipline on a child should
be sought out first. Different cultures cause for different opinions on corporal punishment.
4
Growing up my parents would result to verbal correction for me and my siblings and when that
did not do the job they would result to spankings which helped us be who we are as adults today.
The state of Virginia law allows for corporal punishment, however they banned it in
school in 1989. The statue states “physical punishment is permitted, but it is limited to
“reasonable” physical punishment. In my home state of New Jersey, corporal punishment is
banned in schools but that doesn’t extend to parents. The statue in Jersey states “A person with
responsibility for care, supervision, discipline, or safety of another may use force against them
for the purpose of and to the extent necessary to further the purpose of and to the extent
necessary to further responsibility.” Virginia a commonwealth state, has the social and economic
interest of the greater good. New Jersey has a very diverse culture, of people ranging from all
walks of life in regard to corporal punishment both states allow it for the sake of fulfilling
discipline in light of deviant children.
