Corporal punishment for children is a sensitive topic. For most of human history, the notion of a spared rod spoiling a child was a given. Like many truisms, that may not be quite true. It teaches them to solve their problems through physical violence. Even worse: the study found that spanking results in long-term antisocial outcomes that are no different than those resulting from outright physical abuse.
Now, Louisiana is a conservative state. Many parents here know what they know, and they have little or no interest in studies that tell them how their children should be raised. For many Louisianans, corporal punishment is an important tool in molding unruly children.
That view is not unique to Louisiana: corporal punishment is not illegal in any of the fifty states, and nationwide, spanking is still widely viewed as a valid form of punishment. National surveys found around 80 percent of preschoolers reported being spanked, with about 50 percent of older children reporting being paddled with an object. While spanking is still universally legal and enjoys widespread acceptance, courts can sometimes serve as engines of social change.
Is it possible that this study could start altering the landscape on child custody? Specifically, what will courts do when parents disagree about the merits of corporal punishment, but one parent can back up her opposition with hard scientific proof that it is detrimental?
As it stands, the law in Louisiana has not caught up with the findings of this study. Our Civil Code specifically obligates parents to discipline their children. Code art. Yet there is some indication from Leal v. Olivier, a case from the third circuit last November, that the law on corporal punishment may be realigning with that view.
