On Tuesday, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in Willis v. State that parents have the legal right to discipline their children physically, even if it leaves marks or bruises. In the case, the defendant was a mother of a son who had a history of lying and stealing. The boy stole some of his mother's clothes and gave them away at school. As a punishment, the mother struck him five to seven times with a belt. The school nurse saw the bruises, the son told the nurse from where they came, and the nurse called the police, who charged the mother with battery, a D felony.
Corporal punishment is sometimes acceptable. The Model Penal Code says so. The Second Restatement of Torts says so. Blackstone says so. Heck, the last four thousand years of human history says so.
It is a sad state of affairs that any time a parent tries to punish a child, the state thinks it should come to the child's aid. How long has this been going on? When did we become a nation of wimps? The sad truth is that American kids feel entitled to do whatever they want, and they have been too eager to complain to authorities when they get a spanking. Is it any wonder that, as the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports, Indiana is 6th in the nation for juveniles locked up? When parents don't punish appropriately, the law will eventually have to.
I don't mean to suggest that child abuse is acceptable. I have seen many CHINS cases this summer, and there are some parents that really are doing it wrong. And punishment that leads to permanent or severe injuries should be, and is still, illegal. But I am glad to see that Indiana is taking a step back in the proper direction of letting parents punish their children as they see fit.
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The rhetorical ramblings of a student at Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington.
4 comments:
"Corporal punishment is sometimes acceptable. The Model Penal Code says so. The Second Restatement of Torts says so. Blackstone says so. Heck, the last four thousand years of human history says so."
How long will it take an astronaut to reach the moon on horseback?
Ben,
"It is a sad state of affairs that any time a parent tries to punish a child, the state thinks it should come to the child's aid. How long has this been going on? When did we become a nation of wimps? The sad truth is that American kids feel entitled to do whatever they want, and they have been too eager to complain to authorities when they get a spanking. Is it any wonder that, as the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports, Indiana is 6th in the nation for juveniles locked up? When parents don't punish appropriately, the law will eventually have to."
Ignorance is excusable if one was spanked as a child too much.
Some times it's hard to follow through on one's beliefs when the proof would confound the claims.
Failure to discipline (spank) has resulted in out of control youth?
Would that be reflected in youth violent crime, do you think?
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/offage.htm
I presume you can handle truth, so I'll post a little from the site above, and await your response:
"
The proportion of serious violent crimes committed by juveniles has generally declined since 1993.
* Victims perceived that between 1/5 and 1/4 of violent crimes were committed by juveniles.
* According to the victim's perception of the age of the offender, the number of serious violent offenses committed by persons ages 12 to 17 declined 61% from 1993 to 2005, while those committed by persons older than 17 fell 58%. "
Interesting that between the two groups, older and younger, the older being more likely to have been spanked, and or paddled in school, given the changes we see in both public perceptions and educational ones about corporal punishment, youth, the least likely to have been spanked and paddled had the larger drop in violent crime.
Is there a message here?
Follow the logic that failure to spank creates violent acting out children, then one would presume spanking creates more peaceful children and youth, overall.
The past decade has seen dramatic curtailment of paddling in schools. Many states, and many individual school districts have either banned or quietly banned it. They are, on the campuses, in the front line so they know the outcome of using paddling.
Let's look at it logically. According to your logic.
Has youth violence and crime gone up, or down in the past few decades (as spanking becomes less and less popular).
http://www.cjcj.org/jjic/myths_facts.php
Myths and Facts about Youth and Crime e-mail this page print this page
Intro
Myth: Today's Youth are More Criminal
Myth: Today's Youth are Using Guns and Committing More Violent Crimes
Myth: Tougher Laws Will Alleviate Youth Crime
Myth: Tougher Laws Will Not Discriminate by Race
Intro
Despite actual declines in youth crime over the past decade, the public’s perception of youth violence has reached all time heights.
Media blitzes surrounding school shootings and other violent, but rare, incidents have succeeded in scaring the public and creating a climate that supports tougher juvenile laws like curfews and trying kids in adult courts.
Juvenile Crime in the News
Three-quarters of the public say they form their opinions about crime from what they see or read in the news, while only 22% say they get their primary information on crime from personal experience.
...
Visit the link to see the truth. Do some independent research, not media driven emotional hype, or the rants of the ignorant.
My problem isn't with more kids being locked up, nor is it with the rise or decline in criminal activity in which children participate. My problem is with states telling parents how to parent.
Spanking should not be a crime. The state declares certain things crimes because it believes there is a social benefit to the reduction of that activity. But if the reduction of that activity is not socially beneficial, then it should not be a crime.
Breaking your kid's leg should be a crime. Bruising his bottom should not.
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