What is corporal punishment? How do they give corporal punishment? What sort of punishment is referred to as corporal punishment? But how can someone hit a child? Why is corporal punishment still existing? Do they still do corporal punishment? Is corporal punishment even legal in the United States?
These are just some of the questions that usually come up when people talk about corporal punishment and why it is used.
We are not here to say whether it is right or wrong to give corporal punishment or to answer all the questions people ask about it. Our intention right now is to let you know whether it is legal for you to administer it in your state or not.
So, if you want to know what corporal punishment is and if it is legal in the United States, take this walk with us. We have a lot to show you.
What Is Corporal Punishment?
Let’s start this journey by finding out what corporal punishment is so you can tell what it is not.
Corporal punishment is the use of physical force that can cause bodily or physical pain to discipline or attempt to discipline someone for doing something you don’t want her to do. This is why people sometimes call it physical discipline or physical punishment.
What Are the Forms of Corporal Punishment?
So, what are the examples of corporal punishment? And sort of punishment is seen as physical force?
Well, when you use any physical or bodily force on someone and what you did causes or has the impact that can cause physical pains to her, what you did is known as corporal punishment.
This means that when you hit, slap, pinch, spank, flog, kick, shove, or shake someone as a form of punishment or a way of instilling discipline, you used corporal punishment.
Other forms of corporal punishment include when they pull someone’s hair, attempt to choke them, jab them, burn them, and scald them.
We also see people making others sit, stand, kneel, or squat in uncomfortable positions. Forcing people to do frog jumps, roll on the floor, crawl, knee walk, or do any form of movement that causes physical pain are also corporal punishment.
And, of course, forcing people to take or ingest substances that will harm them is a form of corporal punishment.
There are many other types but these are the ones that you might have heard about or witnessed before. But remember that when you do something to someone as a form of punishment and that thing causes him physical pain, what you did is corporal punishment.
Arguments FOR and AGAINST Corporal Punishments in Schools
The use of corporal punishment is causing heated arguments in every part of the world because while some people want it, others want it to be totally abolished from the school system.
Here, we are going to find out why people want and do not want corporal punishments in our schools.
Arguments FOR Corporal Punishment
The people that want corporal punishment have the following reasons for making their choice:
- Corporal punishment will make the students understand the consequences of their bad behaviors. In other words, it will stop them from doing bad things.
- It will increase discipline in schools.
- Corporal punishment acts as a form of retribution. In other words, when someone does something bad, especially something that harms another person or causes them pain, he needs to pay for what he did. So, corporal punishment is considered the best payment for his offense.
- It scares students and so, they behave very well in school.
- It is the fastest way to make people behave well.
- It makes sure that students respect their school authority.
Well, these are their arguments. Now, let’s look at the arguments of those that kick against corporal punishment.
Arguments AGAINST Corporal Punishment
The people that kick against corporal punishment have the following reasons for making their choice:
- It can bring physical harm to the child. Image trying to punish someone and then end up causing them an irreparable physical harm.
- It can also cause mental health and psychological problems, such as anxiety, depression, emotional instability, and low self-esteem.
- Corporal punishment can introduce stress that will affect brain development.
- It promotes violence by making children believe it’s ok to use physical force whenever they want to have their way.
- It can damage the relationship between a teacher and her students.
- Corporal punishment can easily be abused because the punisher may not know the right proportion of punishment to give to a child.
- It is ineffective because the child receiving the punishment may not understand why he is actually being punished.
- It violates the rights of children to human dignity and physical integrity.
Now that we have seen the arguments for and against corporal punishments, I believe it’s time to find out the states that legalize its use in schools.
Corporal Punishment Legal States
At the moment, the following states allow the use of corporal punishment in their public schools. Below are the Corporal Punishment legal states in 2025:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Wyoming
Please, bear in mind that even though corporal punishment is legal in these states, it does not mean that children do or should experience inhuman treatments in the name of punishment. In most instances, the approved physical force involves using wooden paddles to spank paddle students.
All the same, you should understand that the major goal is to correct and not to destroy.
Let’s Wrap It Up
Now that you have information about corporal punishment and which parts of the United States still allows its practice in schools, it is time to decide if it is an effective style of punishment for you to use or not. If you are working in any of the schools in the states that I didn’t mention above, you should be conscious of how you interact and discipline your students or any child as you might be breaking the law unknowingly.
All the same, we should remember that whatever we do to encourage children to modify their behaviors positively should not harm them. The essence of punishments is to correct and not to break or destroy.