Corporal Punishment

Corporal punishment is the use of physical force, no matter how light, with the intention of causing a child to experience bodily pain so as to correct or punish the child’s behavior. Corporal punishment remains a commonly used practice by parents around the world, but it is also used by teachers throughout the world as a means of punishing children for their misbehaviors. This entry [Page 409]first describes corporal punishment in schools and looks at its legality and prevalence. It then discusses disparities in the use of corporal punishment, the outcomes for children who are subjected to corporal punishment, and efforts to reduce corporal punishment.

School corporal punishment often includes hitting children with an object, such as a wooden paddle, stick, or whip, but also takes the form of slapping, pinching, hair pulling, and ear pulling. Corporal punishment does not refer only to hitting children as a form of discipline; it also includes other practices that involve purposefully causing the child to experience pain in order to punish the child, including washing a child’s mouth out with soap, forcing a child to stand in a painful position for long periods of time, making a child kneel on sharp or painful objects (e.g., rice, a floor grate), placing hot sauce on a child’s tongue, and forcing a child to engage in excessive exercise or physical exertion. The term corporal punishment is synonymous with the term physical punishment.