Campaigns against corporal punishment

Campaigns against corporal punishment have been seen in a number of different countries at different times, and they have met with varying degrees of success. Corporal punishment of minors is defined by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child as "Any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light."[1] As of April 2015, legislative reforms in 46 countries have banned corporal punishment of children in all settings.[2]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, one of the earliest organised campaigns was that of the Humanitarian League, with its regular magazine The Humanitarian, which campaigned for several years for the abolition of the chastisement of young seamen in the Royal Navy, a goal partially achieved in 1906 when naval birching was abandoned as a summary punishment.[3] However, it did not manage to get the Navy to abolish caning as a punishment, which continued at Naval training establishments until 1967.[4]

The Howard League for Penal Reform campaigned in the 1930s for, among many other things, the abolition of judicial corporal punishment by cat-o'-nine-tails or birching.[5] This was eventually achieved in the U.K. in 1948.[6]

The Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment (STOPP) was set up in the U.K. in 1968 to campaign for the abolition of corporal punishment in UK schools.[7]

STOPP was a very small pressure group that lobbied government, local authorities and other official institutions. It also investigated individual cases of corporal punishment and aided families wishing to pursue their cases through the UK and European courts.[8]

The UK Parliament abolished corporal punishment in state schools in 1986.[9] STOPP then wound itself up and ceased to exist, though some of the same individuals went on to form EPOCH to campaign to outlaw spanking, and spanking in the domestic setting.

United States

An early U.S. activist against corporal punishment was Horace Mann, who in the 19th century unsuccessfully opposed its use in schools.[10]

In the United States there are currently several different organizations advocating the abolition of paddling in schools, including:

Worldwide

An organisation called "Global Initiative To End All Corporal Punishment Of Children" was set up in 2001 to campaign for the worldwide prohibition by law of all corporal punishment of children, whether by parents or schools. It seeks to monitor the legal situation in every country of the world.[14]

In 2008, the UN Study on Violence against Children set a target date of 2009 for universal prohibition, including in the home,[15] an aim described by The Economist the same year as "wildly unrealistic".[16]

Notable anti-spanking advocates

The following are either noted personalities who are anti-spanking, or individuals who are significantly involved within the anti-spanking movement.

See also

References

  1. ↑ UN Committeer on the Rights of the Child (md2001) r“General Comment No. 1:" par 11.
  2. ↑ "States with full abolition". Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children. Retrieved April 2015.
  3. ↑ Gibson, Ian. The English Vice, Duckworth, London, 1978, pp.171-176. ISBN 0-7156-1264-6
  4. ↑ Roxan, David. "Storm over canings for Navy boys", News of the World, London, 23 April 1967.
  5. ↑ Benson, G. Flogging: The Law and Practice in England, Howard League for Penal Reform, London, 1937. OCLC 5780230
  6. ↑ "Power to order flogging: Abolition approved in Committee", The Times, London, 12 December 1947.
  7. ↑ Jessel, Stephen. "The high cost of cutting out the cane". The Times, London, 28 September 1972.
  8. ↑ Hodges, Lucy. "Caned schoolgirl awarded £1,200". The Times, London, 27 February 1982.
  9. ↑ Gould, Mark. "Sparing the rod". The Guardian, London, 9 January 2007.
  10. ↑ Maurer, Adah; Wallerstein, James S. (1987). "The Influence of Corporal Punishment on Crime". The Natural Child Project. Retrieved January 2015.
  11. ↑ Mulvaney, Erin (4 March 2014). "Houston lawmaker's bill would stop 'paddling' in the classroom". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved January 2015.
  12. ↑ Chason, Rachel (18 July 2014). "As more schools ban paddling, others defend it". USA Today. Retrieved January 2015.
  13. ↑ Hendrix, Steve (3 January 2013). "The End of Spanking?". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 2015.
  14. ↑ Global Initiative To End All Corporal Punishment Of Children.
  15. ↑ "The United Nations Study on Violence against Children". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  16. ↑ "Spare the rod, say some". The Economist (London). 29 May 2008. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  17. ↑ Sue Bradford. "Child Discipline Bill". Hansard (Volume:627;Page:22086). Parliament of New Zealand. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  18. ↑ Riak, Jordan (7 January 2008). "Jordan Riak - background". Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE). Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  19. ↑ Cowan-Jenssen, Sue (31 May 2010). "Alice Miller obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved February 2015.

External links

Organizations opposed to corporal punishment of children

Other links

The late Swiss psychotherapist and author Alice Miller summarized her opposition to corporal punishment in the flyer "The Roots of Violence Are NOT Unknown"