Child Maltreatment: Burden and Consequences in High-Income Countries. Meyer David D. The Constitutionalization of Family Law. Handbook of Child Psychology: Social, Emotional, and Personality Development. Studies have revealed that spanking has less-deleterious effects in Kenya and India, where it is ubiquitous, than in China and Thailand, where it is relatively rare.183 Ironically, as corporal punishment becomes less common in American society, parents who continue to engage in this practice may find that it begins to have stronger adverse effects on their children.184. Young Kimberlie. Again, this has been left mostly unresolved, either purposefully or by default. Lower rates were found in the WHO Western Pacific Region, with lifetime and past year prevalence around 25%. Ashton Vicki. Corporal punishment is often chosen by students over suspension or detention. Corporal Punishment Although trial courts may be more likely than appellate courts to render decisions favorable to CPS because of their ongoing working relationship with its professionals, both trial and appellate courts retain wide discretion in determining whether an act of physical discipline constitutes unlawful physical abuse. In this society and according to the law, the decision about the acceptability of this parental behavior rests with the parent under the principle of parental autonomy to the extent that the consequences, on average, do not exceed the threshold that would lead to functional impairment. Webin-utero, rates of abuse were two to three times that of other children in the same geographical area. ), It is not the place of this discussion to deal with theological issues, however. Corporal Punishment and Physical Abuse: Population-Based Accessibility Children who experience only non-violent forms of discipline are in the minority. **William McDougall Professor of Public Policy, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Director of the Center of Child and Family Policy, Duke University, ***J.D., Duke Law School, M.P.P., Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Nonaccidental physical injuries children suffer at the hands of their parents occur along a continuum that ranges from mild to severe. Lawmaker Ends Effort to Make Spanking a Crime. An official website of the United States government. Though courts seem less likely than CPS workers explicitly to consider a childs risk of future harm or injury, courts emphasis on the history of unreasonable physical discipline in the household indicates some concern for the childs safety in the event that the child remains in the home. What is not clear, though, is whether those agencies and professionals that incorporate emotional and developmental consequences into their assessments are using only valid scientific evidence about those consequences. Consistent with state statutes that typically define physical abuse in terms of harm or injury to the child, courts drawing the line between reasonable corporal punishment and unlawful physical abuse focus heavily on the degree and severity of the childs physical injury. Among the acts that constitute abuse with a showing of physical injury are [t]hrowing, kicking, burning, biting, or cutting a child; [s]triking a child with a closed fist; [s]haking a child; or [s]triking a child on the face or head.28 Similarly, Floridas statute provides that abuse is any willful act or threatened act that results in any physical injury or harm that causes or is likely to cause the childs physical, mental, or emotional health to be significantly impaired.29 It then enumerates injuries that can harm a childs health or welfare. 2008). Jane Costello E, et al. The article proceeds as follows: Part II describes what is known about how the relevant institutional actorslegislatures, CPS, and courtscurrently find and define the line between reasonable and unlawful corporal punishment.15 Part III separately describes the parental-autonomy norms and scientific knowledge that currently compete for primacy in the discourse about corporal punishment and, as far as we can tell, largely contribute to decisions about the lawfulness of particular incidents on the ground. Part IV begins with an argument for definitional and methodological changes that reflects both parental-autonomy norms and scientific knowledge and follows with specific suggestions for policy reform. Parents and lay reporters typically operate on a know it when you see it basis, whereas CPS professionals and courts are somewhat, but not ever entirely, constrained in this exercise by the norms of their respective disciplines, social work, and law. Although the law today generally recognizes claims for emotional harm, its traditional concerns about frivolous and fraudulent claims and about how to limit liability in such a way that the outcome is fair also to the defendant continue to affect their viability and usefulness. The first of these paradigms reflects parental-autonomy norms, and the second, scientific knowledge about the circumstances that cause children harm. National Library of Medicine Referring to this article:Child Abuse: An Overview was written by C. J. Newton, MA, Learning Specialist and published in the Find Counseling.com (formerly TherapistFinder.net) Mental Health Journal in April, 2001.Use or reference to this article on the Internet must be accompanied by a link to the page you cite. Dodge and Doriane Lambelet Coleman with a county CPS frontline investigator, Durham County, N.C. (Feb. 16, 2009) (on file with L & CP); interview by Kenneth A. At the same time, the investigations cause or risk causing at least some emotional harm to the child and family.201 Incentivizing the states consideration of these concerns before it intervenes in the family should help to reduce the harm caused or risked by unnecessary interventions. Parental-autonomy norms reflect societys widely held view that parents have the right to raise their children as they see fit, without outside interference from the government or others. The following model corporal-punishment provision is based on the structure and principles articulated above. And such evidence should otherwise be treated consistently with evidence law generally, as being both admissible and useful to the evaluation of individual cases. Corporal Punishment - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics In: Dodge Kenneth A, Coleman Doriane Lambelet., editors. One in 2 children aged 617 years (732million) live in countries where corporal punishment at school is not fully prohibited. The Legal Aspects of Corporal Punishment in the Home: When Does Physical Discipline Cross the Line to Become Child Abuse? 39.01(2) (West 2003 & Supp. Appellate courts have authority to review trial-court decisions. 39.01(4)(k) (West 2003 & Supp. he or she is reasonable in determining that the childs behavior warranted discipline. 2008). A Population-Based Comparison of Clinical and Outcome Characteristics of Young Children With Serious Inflicted and Noninflicted Traumatic Brain Injury. This requirement, in turn, is good for children and families because it forces parents to consider ex ante their decision and whether it conforms with the norms of the community or legal rules otherwise. Corporal punishment triggers harmful psychological and physiological responses. The .gov means its official. The .gov means its official. Ordinary Physical Punishment: Is it Harmful? This single rule, in turn, would potentially reduce the number of incidents in which children were injured in the disciplinary setting and, correspondingly, the number of interventions by the state in the family. Further, cultural norms have changed across generations. Applying Socio-Emotional Information Processing theory to explain child abuse risk: Emerging patterns from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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