Corporal Punishment is Declining in Southern School Districts

Corporal Punishment is Declining in Southern School Districts
Louisiana Progress
Corporal
Punishment
is Declining in
Southern School
Districts:
Is It Time to Abolish
the Paddle in
Louisiana Schools?
Twyla Williams-Damond, Mary R. Broussard,
Jessie Broussard, Richard Fossey & Robert Slater
Corporal punishment has been a part of public education
since colonial times. Traditionally, educators have enjoyed
a legal privilege to administer corporal punishment to
students as a means of maintaining discipline and order,
and they could do so whether or not the parents consented.
Attitudes are changing about corporal punishment,
however. Over the past 40 years, states have gradually
abolished the practice of paddling students in schools. In
1976, a million and a half kids were paddled in the nation’s
schools, according to the Center for Effective Discipline.1
Today, that number has dropped to below 200,000. Thirtynine states have abolished corporal punishment by law in
public schools.
Corporal Punishment Is On the Wane
in Southern Schools
punishment is much more concentrated than this map
makes it appear. First of all, all six non-Southern paddling
states have virtually abolished the paddle. Only a few
instances are reported each year in the states of Arizona,
Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Indiana, and Wyoming. In fact,
according to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for
Civil Rights, Kansas and Idaho reported zero instances of
corporal punishment in 2009.
Figure 1.
Map of United States
Red States Permit Paddling in Schools
A look at a map that depicts the paddling states shows that
corporal punishment is now largely confined to states in the
South and the Rocky Mountain West. With the exception
of Virginia, every Southern state allows school personnel
to paddle students, including the border states of Kentucky,
Missouri, and Oklahoma.
When we examine available corporal punishment data
closely, however, we find that school-based corporal
1 “Discipline at School,” Center for Effective Discipline, accessed February 19,
2014, http://www.stophitting.com/index.php?page=statesbanning.
SOURCE: Center for Effective Discipline
Corporal Punishment is Declining in Southern School Districts
Louisiana Progress
Figure 2.
Corporal Punishment Incidents in Paddling States
Updated Center for Effective Discipline Chart According to Office for Civil Rights Data
State
1. Alabama
2. Arizona
3. Arkansas
4. Florida
5. Georgia
6. Idaho
7. Indiana
8. Kansas
9. Kentucky
10. Louisiana
11. Mississippi
12.Missouri
13. North Carolina
14.Ohio
15.Oklahoma
16. South Carolina
17. Tennessee
18.Texas
19.Wyoming
2009-20102009-2010 2005-20062009-2010
Number of
Total Student
Percentage of
Percentage of
Students Hit
Population
Total Students Hit Total Students Hit
24,545
718,570
4.6%
3.4%
805
8,666,655
0%
.009%
11,045
335,280
4.7%
3.3%
2,510
2,619,230
.3%
.1%
13,135
1,626,845
1.1%
.08%
0
235,180
.05%
0%
240
815,130
.05%
.00029%
0
353,975
.01%
0%
685
571,485
.3%
.1%
8,705
659,940
1.7%
1.3%
29,975
449,580
7.5%
6.7%
1780
710,095
.6%
.25%
285
1,392,950
.2%
.02%
230
1,258,925
.04%
.00018%
3,575
467,775
2.4%
.8%
655
459,395
.2%
.1%
11,080
922,070 1.5%
1.2%
17,855
4,258,225
1.1%
.42%
204
88,155
0%
.002%
TOTALS 127,30926,609,460
SOURCE: Twyla Damond-Williams and Jessie Broussard
Even in the South, where paddle-wielding school principals
are most prevalent, corporal punishment practices vary
widely. Corporal punishment is close to being eliminated
in at least four Southern states: Florida, Missouri, North
Carolina and South Carolina. State laws in all four states
still permit students to be paddled, but most local school
boards have chosen to ban the practice.2
And research has shown that corporal punishment has been
virtually wiped out in the urban schools of the South. Not
a single student is paddled in the Texas cities of Austin,
Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, or San Antonio.3
All urban school districts in Florida have abandoned
corporal punishment, 4 and no corporal punishment is
2 World Corporal Punishment Research. “Corporal Punishment in US Schools.”
Retrieved from http://www.corpun.com/counuss.htm.
3 Stephanie Phillips and Richard Fossey. “Retiring the Paddle: Local School
Boards Wipe Out Corporal Punishment in Urban Texas,” Teachers College Record.
April 05, 2012, http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 16745.
4 Christopher B. Goodson and Richard Fossey. “Corporal Punishment is on the
Wane in Southern Schools: Encouraging Evidence from Florida, North Carolina
and Texas,” Teachers College Record. November 16, 2012
practiced in Atlanta or in any of the ten largest school
districts in Georgia.5
In fact, when we look at the data compiled by the U.S.
Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, we
can see clearly that corporal punishment is now largely
confined to non-urban school districts in seven Southern
states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Tennessee and Texas. And even in these states, corporal
punishment is declining. In Georgia, for example, corporal
punishment incidents dropped from over 40,000 in 2005 to
less than 20,000 in 2012.
Nevertheless, among school districts where corporal
punishment is still being administered, a lot of kids
are being paddled. Mississippi has the highest rate of
corporal punishment in the United States and has held
that distinction for many years. In fact, more students
http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 16940.
5 Jessie Broussard, “An Analysis of Corporal Punishment Practices in Georgia”
(Ed.D. diss. University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2014).
Corporal Punishment is Declining in Southern School Districts
Figure 3.
Georgia Statewide
Corporal Punishment Trend 2005 - 2013
45000
40000
35000
30000
25000
Total Corporal
Punishment
Incidents
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
2005 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013
SOURCE: Jessie Broussard
are paddled in Mississippi schools every year than the
combined paddling incidents in 40 other states! A recent
dissertation study by Twyla Williams-Damond, which
analyzed data provided by the Mississippi Department
of Education, found 10 Mississippi school districts that
reported paddling incidents in one school year that were
equal to 50 percent of their entire student bodies. The study
also found that African American students were almost
twice as likely as white students to be targets of corporal
punishment in Mississippi schools.6
Even Mississippi, though, is administering corporal
punishment less than in the past. Paddling incidents
dropped from 47,727 incidents in 2006-2007 to just under
39,000 incidents in the 2011-2012 school year.7
Factors Contributing to a Decline in
Corporal Punishment in Southern Schools
What factors contribute to a decline in corporal punishment
in Southern school districts? First, as we have said, urban
school districts have banned corporal punishment all over
the South. Urbanization and the rejection of corporal
punishment in schools appear to be related.
Second, regular and publicized reports on corporal
punishment practices may also contribute to a decline in
physical discipline. The Florida Department of Education
reports annually on the number of corporal punishment
incidents in the schools, and these reports are posted on
the web.8 Perhaps these reports contributed to the sharp
decline in corporal punishment in Florida schools.
6 Twyla Damond-Williams, “An Analysis of Corporal Punishment Practices
in the State of Mississippi” (Ed.D. diss. 2014, University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
2014).
7 Ibid., 132.
8 Florida Department of Education (2013). Data Report: Trends in Discipline
and Decline in the Use of Corporal Punishment, 2011-2012. Series 2013-14D.
Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of Education.
Louisiana Progress
Finally, it seems likely that child advocacy groups have
played a role in reducing corporal punishment in the South.
Action for Children North Carolina, a North Carolina child
advocacy group, has published several reports on corporal
punishment in North Carolina schools and has vigorously
advocated for its abolition. 9 In Arkansas, a group called
NeverHitAChild.org has monitored corporal punishment
data in Arkansas schools.10 And in South Carolina, the
South Carolina Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment
in School has actively campaigned for the abolition of
corporal punishment in the Palmetto State.11 No doubt, the
efforts of all these groups have played a role in persuading
local school boards to abolish the paddle.
Corporal punishment in Louisiana
Public Schools
Louisiana law specifically authorizes local school boards to
administer corporal punishment in the schools and to adopt
rules and regulations for its implementation.12 Moreover, a
Louisiana appellate court ruled that school districts have the
authority to paddle children even if their parents object.13
Parents can sue Louisiana educators where corporal
punishment so severe that a child is injured. Nevertheless,
several Louisiana courts have ruled that parents must
show more than slight bruises in order to recover money
damages.14 For example, in a 1975 case, a teacher struck a
student four or five times with a wooden board, which the
court described as “approximately 14 or 15 inches long,
about 6 inches wide, and possibly 1/2 inch thick.” 15 The
court did not consider the punishment excessive, even
though the student experienced some bruising.
A dissertation study by Mary R. Broussard found 15
published appellate court decisions involving allegations of
excessive corporal punishment, a high number compared to
surrounding states. Although courts awarded damages to
parents in a few of these cases, school boards prevailed in 10
out of 15 cases.16
9 Action for Children North Carolina, Corporal Punishment in Public Schools:
Some Surprises, Continuing Shame. Raleigh, NC: Author, March 2012. Available
at: http://www.ncchild.org/sites/default/files/2012_Corporal%20Punishment%20
Update--Action%20for%20Children%20North%20Carolina.pdf.
10 “The No Spanking Page,” NeverHitAChild.org, last revised September 1, 2012,
accessed February 19, 2014, http://www.neverhitachild.org/index.html.
11 Liz Carey, Saying ‘No’ to the ‘Board of Applied Psychology, IndependentMail.
com, September 24, 2011. Available at: http://www.independentmail.com/
news/2011/sep/24/saying-no-board-applied-psychology/?print=1.
12 Louisiana Revised Statute § 17.223.
13 Setliff v. Rapides Parish Sch. Bd., 888 So. 2d 1156 (La. Ct. App. 2004).
14 White v. Richardson, 378 So. 2d 162 (La. Ct. App. 1979).
15 Roy v. Continental Insurance Company, 313 So. 2d 349, 355 (La. Ct. App.
1975).
16 Mary R. Broussard, “Corporal Punishment in the State of Louisiana: A
Corporal Punishment is Declining in Southern School Districts
Figure 4.
Louisiana School Districts
That Have Abolished Corporal Punishment
Prohibit CP
Allow CP
Louisiana Progress
OCR data for the years 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2009 shows
that corporal punishment has declined in Louisiana from
more than 20,000 incidents in 2000 to around 10,000
incidents in 2009.
Unfortunately, corporal punishment data collected by OCR
may not be accurate. Comparisons between OCR data and
data collected by state departments of education in Georgia
and Mississippi found that the state departments reported
more corporal punishment than OCR.20 Thus, it seems
possible that OCR’s corporal punishment data for Louisiana
underreports the total amount of corporal punishment
actually being administered in Louisiana schools.
Most research concludes that
corporal punishment is harmful
to children and youth
SOURCE: Mary R. Broussard
One might think that fear of litigation would prompt
Louisiana school districts to abolish corporal punishment,
but most districts still allow it. A study conducted by the
Louisiana Department of Education in 2011 found that
only 17 school districts had banned physical discipline
in schools.17 Since that time, St. Helena Parish School
District has also abolished corporal punishment.18 As the
accompanying map shows, all Louisiana school districts that
have banned the paddle are clustered in the southeastern
part of the state.
The Broussard study found that about two thirds of all
students attending Louisiana public schools are enrolled
in districts that permit corporal punishment. This
is in marked contrast to Texas, where 60 percent of
students attend schools in districts that prohibit corporal
punishment, and Florida, where 90 percent of students are
enrolled in districts that have abolished the paddle.19
Although the Louisiana Department of Education collects
school-level data on corporal punishment incidents, it
does not make this data available to the public. The U.S.
Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights collects
data, but this data is not reported annually. A review of
Descriptive Study of Policies and Practices” (Ed.D. diss., University of Louisiana at
Lafayette, 2014).
17 Louisiana Department of Education, Report to the House Committee on
Education of the Louisiana Legislature (Baton Rouge, LA: Author, March 2011),
accessed February 19, 2014,
http://www.louisianaschools.net/lde/uploads/18380.pdf.
18 Heidi Kinchen, “12 Members of St. Helena High’s Class of2013 to Retake GEE,”
The (Baton Rouge) Advocate, May 23, 2013, accessed February 18, 2014 http://
theadvocate.com/news/5935481-123/12-members-of-st-helena.
19 Mary R. Broussard, “Corporal Punishment in the State of Louisiana.”
Extensive research has been conducted on corporal
punishment’s impact on children and youth, and the vast
majority of the research literature has concluded that
corporal punishment is associated with a wide range of
negative outcomes for young people. In a 2013 report,
the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of
Children summarized research results from 150 studies
and concluded that “the message from research is very
clear: corporal punishment carries multiple risk of harm
and has no benefits.” The report found an association
between corporal punishment and increased aggression,
increased anti-social behavior, reduced empathy, and
impaired cognitive development in children, and increased
violent behavior in adults who had experienced corporal
punishment as children.21
One might think that fear
of litigation would prompt
Louisiana school districts to
abolish corporal punishment,
but most districts still allow it.
20 Jessie Broussard, Twyla Damond-Williams, Mary R. Broussard, Richard
Fossey, and Robert Slater, “Corporal Punishment in Southern Schools: Good
News, Bad News, and News That’s Pretty Ugly,” Teachers College Record, http://
www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 17221 2013.
21 “Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, Summary of
Research on the Effects of Corporal Punishment, April 2013, accessed February
14, 2014, http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/pages/pdfs/Summary%20of%20
research%20on%20the%20effects%20of%20corporal%20punishment%20April%20
2013.pdf.
Corporal Punishment is Declining in Southern School Districts
Likewise, Gershoff and Bitenksy, in an exhaustive study
published in 2007, found an association between corporal
punishment and children’s mental health problems,
including anxiety and depression, and that these mental
health problems persisted into adulthood.22 The authors
pointed out that corporal punishment is increasingly seen
as a human rights abuse and that it has been condemned by
the United Nations and banned altogether in many nations
across the world.23
Based on research findings, the American Psychological
Association has also concluded that corporal punishment
can be harmful to children. The APA’s statement on
corporal punishment affirmed that the practice can lower
a child’s sense of self-esteem, train a child to believe that
violence is an acceptable way to control behavior and “instill
hostility, rage, and a sense of powerlessness” in children
who are subjected to this form of punishment.24 The APA
stated its formal opposition to corporal punishment in all
schools, childcare facilities, and juvenile institutions.
Dozens of professional organizations have gone on record
to oppose the use of corporal punishment on children
including the American Psychological Association,
the American Bar Association, the National Education
Association, and the National Association of Secondary
Principals.25 In a 2000 statement, the American Academy of
Pediatrics expressed its opposition to corporal punishment
in public schools, finding that it may adversely affect “a
student’s self-image and student achievement and that it
may contribute to disruptive and violent student behavior.”26
Of course, the totality of research on corporal punishment
and the nearly unanimous opposition to it by respected
professional organizations do not prove conclusively
that corporal punishment is bad for children. But as one
researcher noted in a study conducted more than fifteen
22 Elizabeth T. Gershoff and Susan H. Bitensky, “The Case Against Corporal
Punishment of Children: Converging Evidence From Social Science Research
and International Human Rights Law and implications for U.S. Public Policy,”
Psychology, Public Policy and Law 13 (2007) 239, accessed February 19, 2014,
http://www.nospank.net/Gershoff%20%20Bitensky%20on%20Corporal%20
Punishment%20 (2007).pdf.
23 Ibid., 232.
24 “Corporal Punishment,” American Psychological Association, accessed
February 19, 2014, http://www.apa.org/about/policy/corporal-punishment.aspx.
25 “Corporal Punishment n Child Care and Educational Institutions,” American
Bar Association, July 1985, accessed February 19, 2014, http://www.americanbar.
org/groups/child_law/policy/schools.html; “Corporal Punishment,” American
Psychological Association, accessed February 19,2014, http://www.apa.org/about/
policy/corporal-punishment.aspx; “Corporal Punishment,” National Association
of Secondary School Principals, February 2009, accessed February 19, 2014,
http://www.nassp.org/Content.aspx?topic=47093; National Education Association,
Report of the Task Force on Corporal Punishment (Washington, DC: National
Education Association, 1972).
26 American Academy of Pediatrics, “Corporal Punishment in Schools,”
Pediatrics 106 (2000): 343, accessed February 18, 2014, http://pediatrics.
aappublications.org/content/106/2/343.full.pdf.
Louisiana Progress
Figure 5.
Decline In Corporal Punishment
in Louisiana
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
2000
2004
2006
2009
SOURCE: Mary R. Broussard
years ago, “[W]hen so many different studies, using such
a variety of methods, almost always show that corporal
punishment is related to violence and other antisocial
behavior, it is truly remarkable.”27
Conclusion: It’s Time to Abolish Corporal
Punishment in Louisiana’s Public Schools
Although corporal punishment is on the wane in Southern
schools, it is still being administered in Louisiana, where a
majority of Louisiana students attend school in districts that
use the paddle. Research and professional organizations in
the fields of medicine, law and education almost all agree
that corporal punishment should be abolished, and research
has found that paddling children can be detrimental to their
mental health and can set the stage for adult violence and
mental illness.
The APA’s statement on corporal
punishment affirmed that the
practice can lower a child’s sense of
self-esteem, train a child to believe
that violence is an acceptable way
to control behavior and “instill
hostility, rage, and a sense of
powerlessness” in children who are
subjected to this form of punishment.
27 Murray A. Straus, “Spanking and the making of a Violent Society,” Pediatrics
98 (1996): 841.
Corporal Punishment is Declining in Southern School Districts
Surely it is time for Louisiana to abolish corporal
punishment in the public schools as a matter of state
law. Were Louisiana to take this step, it would be the first
Southern state to do so since Virginia abolished corporal
punishment in 1989. Perhaps Louisiana legislators could be
persuaded to outlaw paddles in schools if they were aware
how much progress the South has already made in recent
years in reducing school-based corporal punishment—
particularly in Southern cities.
Even if the Louisiana Legislature cannot be persuaded
to ban corporal punishment in schools, the Louisiana
Department of Education should publish data on the
amount of corporal punishment being administered in
Louisiana’s public school districts. By publicizing just how
many Louisiana schoolchildren are being paddled each year
and identifying which districts are using the paddle the
most, LDOE might nudge more Louisiana school boards
to join the 18 districts that have already outlawed corporal
punishment. Publicity might also spur children’s advocacy
groups to campaign more aggressively for the abolition of
corporal punishment in Louisiana schools.
Twyla A. Williams-Damond is currently
employed as an instructor at the University of
Louisiana at Lafayette, where she received her
doctorate in May 2014. Her research interests
include social justice surrounding the improved
academic outcomes of students.
Louisiana Progress
Mary R. Broussard is a professional educator
employed by the Lafayette Parish School System.
She completed her doctorate at the University of
Louisiana at Lafayette in May 2014.
Jessie Broussard completed under doctorate at
the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in May
2014. She is the Coordinator of Summer Success
Programs and an Academic Counselor in the
Department of Special Services at the University
of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Richard Fossey is Paul Burdin Endowed Professor
of Education at the University of Louisiana at
Lafayette. His research interests included higher
education law, the federal student loan program,
and corporal punishment in the schools.
Robert Slater coordinates the doctoral program
in the College of Education at the University of
Louisiana at Lafayette. A Senior Fulbright Scholar
to Peru in 1996 and again in Bolivia in 2010, his
research and writing focus on the relationship
between education and democracy.