Corporal Punishment In The United States Today

Introduction

Corporal Punishment is seen as a corrective process where a person in authority such as teacher, principal, or even a parent uses force such as smacking, punching, kicking, spanking, etc to correct being disobedient.

Literature Review

Corporal punishment remains a highly controversial topic in the United States today, mainly because it usually involves the use of physical contact to “correct” disciplinary issues. (Essex) The U.S. Supreme Court ruling of the Ingraham v. Wright that corporal punishment did not violate constitution rights. Leaving the decision up to states and school districts to enforce it. According to Elizabeth Gershoff and Sarah Font in The Social Policy Report are currently 19 states that legally allow corporal

The Texas Education Code came into action with the court case of Serafin v. School of Excellence in Education (SEE), when Jessica Serafin brought action against SEE for violating her due process and equal protection when she was injured trying to block the paddle with her hand. Although, the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas dismissed the claim the media was aware of the actions and crude punishment-taking place (Gershoff and Font)

Not all states have the same view point as Texas, one state in particular Nebraska. Nebraska is not one of the states that agrees with the 1977 ruling of the Ingraham v. Wright case there was a Supreme Court of Nebraska case Daily v. Board of Education of Morrill County regarding corporal punishment in 1999, when (Daily) a teacher struck a seventh grade student. Although, the school district determined that his actions were inappropriate and in violation of the code of conduct the court system concluded that the constitution supports loco parentis, and the actions of Daily. (Supreme Court of

The exceptions are Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi where half of the students the students attend schools that enforces corporal punishment (U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (2014b)). According to Gershoff and Font Mississippi has the highest percent of corporal punishment rate of the 19 states at 7% or 32,157 followed by Alabama and Arkansas with 4% of students have been subject to some form of corporal punishment. (Gershoff and Font). One case in particular Clayton v. Tate County School District, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a Mississippi student’s claim that the school violated his constitutional rights when he received a paddle from the assistant principal Jerome Martin. The court ruled that there was no constitutional cause for excessive corporal punishment.