Corporal Punishment and the Cultural Defense

Date

2010

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Law & Contemporary Problems

Abstract

When individuals move to new societies with different ways of life, there are inevitably culture clashes. Collisions between normative systems involve a wide range of substantive matters, and the resolution of these disputes has generated a vast, new, multicultural jurisprudence. Many cultural conflicts are related to children as there are widely divergent child-rearing practices across the globe. One of the classic examples of cultural conflict is the use of physical force to socialize children. In this article I focus on the jurisprudence concerning the use of corporal punishment by immigrant parents, which Anglo American courts often deem to be excessive. In this article I offer an exploration of the reasons why parents consider it appropriate to impose this type of punishment and the different forms it takes when administered. The fundamental question is whether discipline of this sort is inherently unreasonable and, if so, whether it rises to the level of violating children’s rights as defined in domestic and international law. In the twenty-first century we must decide on the most suitable policy to adopt with respect to corporal punishment given existing cultural variation in its usage. I begin with an overview of some of the conceptual and definitional issues associated with this topic. Next, I take up the theory of cultural relativism, which highlights the importance of understanding the inner cultural logic of a community — here as regards the socialization of children. I then discuss the potential for misinterpreting cultural traditions as child abuse and possible criteria for investigating allegations of child maltreatment. Next, to demonstrate the challenges courts face, I present a series of examples of cases in which judges have addressed the appropriateness of administering corporal punishment. These cases are divided into intervention and prosecution, as legal reactions occur in both civil and criminal processes. After this review of decisions, I analyze what constitutes reasonable behavior given a particular cultural context. When cultural collisions occur, it is important to know what latitude judges have to mitigate the full impact of the law on immigrant families. Finally, I consider the jurisprudence on international children’s rights as it pertains to the question of corporal punishment by scrutinizing the best-interests-of-the-child principle in the context of international human rights. (Author Text)

Description

Keywords

child abuse, immigrants, culture, review

Citation

Renteln, A. D. (2010). Corporate Punishment and the Cultural Defense. Law & Contemporary Problems, 73, 253-279.

DOI