Essay On Corporal Punishment

The United States government should ban all forms of corporal punishment used on children to help reduce violence against them. In 1995, the United States signed the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child treaty, but it was never ratified and so corporal punishment remains widely used. Statistics show by the time a child is two years old; nearly two-thirds of parents have used corporal punishment, and by middle school the use of corporal punishment increases to about 80% (Gershoff, 2008). By the time a child reaches high school, we see a slight increase in the percentage of children who have experience being physically punished (85%), and over 50% have been hit with a belt (Gershoff, 2008). Corporal punishment is defined

She also found it was associated with an increase in a child’s delinquency, antisocial behavior, and aggression in both child and adulthood, along with an increased risk of abusing their child or spouse (Gershoff, 2002). Gershoff’s findings also suggest that parental corporal punishment increases the risk of being physically abused, if corporal punishment is administered too severely or too frequently. This form of corporal punishment has the potential to escalate into physical abuse, and challenges the notation that corporal punishment and physical abuse are distinct phenomena (Gershoff, 2002). Child abuse researchers, rather see corporal punishment and physical abuse as points along a continuum, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child further goes on the say, “physical punishment is a form of legalized violence against children and should be eliminated through legislative, administrative, social and educational measures” (Gershoff, 2008). Until this occurs current legislation continues to lack a clear distinction between the boundaries of reasonable corporal punishment and physical abuse, which leaves these terms ill-defined (Coleman et al.,

This would include promoting alternative disciplinary strategies for parents and caregivers to use that are effective in decreasing a child’s undesirable behavior, stimulate positive ones, and do not have potentially deleterious side effects. APA also supports this effort and believes physicians should play a role in helping parents understand the negative outcomes associated with corporal punishment and the ineffectiveness of its use. These efforts along with law reform can help move the United States toward banning the use of corporal punishment on children and ultimately influencing the more severe violence on