Corporal Punishment and Children

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that corporal punishment is positive and effective if it is done within the context of the home - and done sparingly; when corporal punishment is carried out in the school, however, there is mounting evidence that this leads to abuse and to serious long-term damage to the child involved. Understandably, because of the controversial and complex nature of this topic, both sides of the debate - those who support corporal punishment and those who are roundly opposed to it - are also looked at. The paper also attempts to show, through a literature review, that it is evident that responsible physical discipline by responsible parents can work.

From the Paper:

"To start with, critics of corporal punishment often point to the fact that corporal punishment within the school is directly related to later criminal behavior. Frazier writes in a provocative 1990 study that the homicide rates in American jurisdictions where both corporal punishment by teachers and capital punishment by the state are permitted are substantially higher (996-997). Simply put, Frazier's essential argument is that states with higher levels of state or government-sponsored violence seem to implicitly, maybe explicitly, encourage young people to use violence to assert themselves or to resolve disputes. This finding is problematic, however, as proponents of corporal punishment will quickly point out. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Day, D.E. "An Analysis of the Physical Punishment Component of a Parent Training Program." Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 11.1 (1983): 141-152.
• Frazier, H.C. "Corporal and Capital Punishment of Juveniles." Medicine and Law, 9.3 (1990): 996-1004.
• Gunnoe, M.L. and Mariner, C.L. "Toward a Developmental-Contextual Model of the Effects of Parental Spanking on Children's Aggression." Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 151, 768-775.
• Larzalere, R.E. "Evaluations of the Effects of Sweden's Spanking Ban on Physical Child Abuse Rates: A Literature Review." Psychological Reports, 85.2 (1999): 381-392.
• McCormick, K.F. "Attitudes of Primary Care Physicians toward Corporal Punishment." The Journal of the American Medical Association, 267.23 (1992): 3161-3165.

More papers on Corporal Punishment and Children:

• Persuasive Essay # 134010 : "Should Corporal Punishment of Children be Permitted?"
• Argumentative Essay # 142208 : "The Negative Effects Of Corporal Punishment On Children"
• Research Paper # 15947 : "An Evaluation of Corporal Punishment"

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