Corporal Punishment
The Controversy of Spanking Continues on the Suite!
Spanking: Are you pro or con? For a period of one month, we ran a poll on spanking and how it is used in reader's homes today. How do you compare to the experts?
Corporal Punishment: The very phrase causes vehement reactions in today’s society. For the purpose of this column, my research was based mainly on Familial Corporal Punishment (CP), for instance, when a bottom is spanked as a form of discipline.
Much to my surprise, the debate rages on at two other levels. The first, Educational Corporal Punishment, I thought had been put to rest while I was still in school more than 30 years ago. Not so! Educational Corporal Punishment is still utilized in schools around the world – using implements such as canes, whips and wooden paddles!
The third type of Corporal Punishment in the public eye is Judicial Corporal Punishment. Until doing my research, this realm of corporal punishment was totally unknown to me. Prisons and other judicial systems routinely penalize offenders of various crimes with CP, using all sorts of medieval implements. Of course, where there is corporal punishment, there is controversy.
What was once to be a single article with the experts responding to interviews and research has now become a serial on Corporal Punishment. The shear amount of information, controversy and scientific studies just begged for additional consideration. To have a complete understanding of the subject, it seemed right to present a balanced account from all sides.
Due to the bulk of material, I will present the following views for you to internalize, one view at a time: Those pro-corporal punishment, those opposed and those using scripture, of all types, to either support or condemn the use of corporal punishment.
Finally, I’d like us to take a quick look at Educational and Judicial Corporal Punishment with you. I believe they bear study, because much of the Con-CP viewpoints I’ve studied, believe Familial and Educational CP are the foundations of societal violence.
What intrigues me about Judicial CP is that the primary argument against Familial and Educational CP is that it breeds societal violence –yet many countries still correct prisoners with a more violent form of Corporal Punishment. It seems such an incongruent pairing of viewpoints!
