" An examination of some research and other writing on the topic of corporal punishment confirmed Family Policy's view that personal opinion influenced discussions as well as research, and showed that researchers did often fail to adequately narrow their parameters to get credible results. Strauss's report on the current research (Strauss, 2001) demonstrates the blending of age groups in research
The key witness against Adams was a 16-year-old criminal who, years later while imprisoned for a separate murder conviction, virtually confessed to killing the officer. (Warnick) The Randall Adams story is in many ways a triumphant and positive story as he, as a person simply refuses to be brought down by that extremes which he once wrongfully faced, yet many of the stories are much less inspirational as entire lifetimes, families and individuals are destroyed by wrongful conviction
Americans will have a hard time giving up their right to spank children, given that the majority of parents in the United States either use corporal punishment or support its use. Demby notes that as many as eight out of every ten Americans favor corporal punishment as a means of disciplining children (Demby 1)
Many psychologists also believe that corporal punishment is less effective than other types of disciplinary action. Even if corporal punishment causes "minimal" problems in children, it would seem sensible to cease the practice in order to develop more effective means of discipline (Ferguson)
Scientific evidence has in fact consistently shown that corporal punishment can be detrimental to the child's psychological growth and development and may even leave long-lasting repercussions (Samakow). Some potentially detrimental effects of corporal punishment include increased anxiety sensitivity in children (Graham and Weems 886)
Test scores have highlighted the measurable cognitive effects of corporal punishment on children, with lower vocabulary and math learning skills reported for children who were systematically and routinely spanked in the home (Reeves and Cuddy). Because many parents use corporal punishment more than they admit, with experiments showing that when monitored, parents use spanking far more frequently than their self-reports indicate, the practice would appear to be a serious public health issue (Holden et al
Those numbers may be even higher among certain population groups, particularly the most conservative religious Americans like fundamentalist Christians (Gershof, Purtell and Holas). For this reason, corporal punishment has not been outlawed as it has in as many as 34 other countries (Jones)
The fact that corporal punishment has been made illegal in public schools in America, and the fact that dozens of other developed nations ban the practice, it would seem that Americans are culturally backwards when it comes to this form of parenting. In fact, many American parents use corporal punishment for "minor transgressions" and "mundane reasons," and not just as a last resort (Nicholson 1)
Some potentially detrimental effects of corporal punishment include increased anxiety sensitivity in children (Graham and Weems 886). Anxiety, depression, aggressive behavior, anger management issues, and substance abuse problems in adulthood have been correlated with corporal punishment in childhood (Reeves and Cuddy)
In fact, the opposite is true. Scientific evidence has in fact consistently shown that corporal punishment can be detrimental to the child's psychological growth and development and may even leave long-lasting repercussions (Samakow)