Where and how to draw the line between reasonable corporal punishment and abuse.

Date

2010

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Law and contemporary problems

Abstract

Nonaccidental physical injuries children suffer at the hands of their parents occur along a continuum that ranges from mild to severe. At the outer edges of this continuum, one might find, on the one hand, a slight swat to the buttocks, and on the other, a brutal beating. In the United States, the normative consensus appears to be that outsiders to the family are appropriately concerned only when the physical injury at issue causes serious harm; any injury short of a serious one is exclusively “family business.”

Description

Keywords

corporal punishment, physical abuse, discipline

Citation

Coleman, D. L., Dodge, K. A., & Campbell, S. K. (2010). Where and how to draw the line between reasonable corporal punishment and abuse. Law and contemporary problems, 73(2), 107.

DOI