SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – This school 12 months, Illinois will turn into only the fifth state within the U.S. to ban corporal punishment in all schools.
A law signed by Governor JB Pritzker this month bans corporal punishment in private schools, while reaffirming a 30-year ban on the practice in public schools.
When the ban goes into effect in January, Illinois will join New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland and New York in banning spanking and hitting in all schools.
State Rep. Margaret Croke, a Democrat from Chicago, was inspired to take up the difficulty after the American Association of Pediatrics renewed calls to finish the practice, saying it will possibly increase behavioral or mental health problems and impair cognitive development. The association noted that the practice is disproportionately used on black males and students with disabilities.
“It was very simple. I don't want any child, whether in a private or public school, to be in a situation where corporal punishment is used,” Croke said.
Croke was also concerned concerning the Cassville School District in southwest Missouri, which abolished corporal punishment in 2001 and reinstated it two years ago, giving parents the choice to opt in. Croke desired to send a transparent message: “It will never be OK to harm or cause pain to a child.”
Much of the world shares this opinion.
The World Health Organization has described this practice as a “violation of the child's right to physical integrity and human dignity.” In 1990, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrined the duty to “prohibit all corporal punishment of children.”
The United States was the one one which didn’t abandon the convention. Americans appear to have a practical attitude toward the practice, says Sarah A. Font, associate professor of sociology and public policy at Pennsylvania State University.
“Even though the research pretty consistently shows that corporal punishment does not improve children's behavior in the long run – and can even have negative consequences – people don't want to believe that,” Font said. “People rely on their own experience and say, 'I experienced corporal punishment. And I coped well with it.' They ignore the totality of the evidence.”
Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut introduced a bill last 12 months, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois, that will ban corporal punishment in all schools that receive federal funding. The bill was assigned to a Senate committee for a public hearing in May 2023, but it surely never advanced to the ground.
The U.S. Supreme Court has also rejected constitutional challenges to the practice. In 1977, when middle school students in Dade County, Florida, filed a lawsuit against corporal discipline, the court ruled that the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and weird punishment applied only to convicted criminals; it didn’t apply to classroom discipline.
Today, 17 states allow corporal punishment in all schools, although 4 states prohibit its use on students with disabilities. North Carolina state law doesn’t prohibit it, but all the state's school districts blocked its use in 2018. Illinois lawmakers banned the practice in public schools in 1994.
Among the states which have banned corporal punishment entirely, New Jersey took the bizarre step of banning it in all schools in 1867. Iowa abolished it in private schools in 1989. Maryland and New York will end its use in private schools in 2023.
Supporters of personal schools, who vehemently oppose government intervention, didn’t oppose the brand new law.
Corporal punishment is just not utilized in Illinois Catholic Conference schools, said Executive Director Bob Gilligan.
“It is an anachronistic practice,” he said.
Ralph Rivera, a representative of the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools, said he is just not aware of any member schools that use the practice. While the group typically opposes government interference in its education, Rivera said it might be difficult to oppose a ban on corporal punishment on principle.
“Even if they don't, they told us to stay out of it because it doesn't make a good impression to say, 'No, we want to be allowed to beat kids,'” Rivera said.
The law doesn’t apply to home education. For students who’re taught at home, the identical rules apply during school hours as after school.
“We talked about a situation in committee where a coach might have said, 'Run laps,'” Croke said. “I don't think that's true in any way because when we tell a kid to run laps, the goal is not necessarily to inflict pain.”
However, in the course of the debate in Parliament, Republicans also expressed concerns that the introduction of such a requirement for personal schools could facilitate the introduction of regulations that affect, for instance, the curriculum or religious education.
Croke, whose school-age child attends a Catholic school, said her intention was to not open the door to government regulation of personal education, but slightly to “protect children from danger.”
“There is a red line: hitting children should never be allowed,” Croke said.
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