Parental Corporal Punishment as a Tool of Domestic Discipline in India: A Psycho-Legal Discourse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51983/arss-2013.2.1.1231Keywords:
Corporal Punishment, Domestic DisciplineAbstract
Corporal punishment remains a widely used discipline technique in most Indian families, but it has also been a subject of controversy within the child development and psychological communities. All parents want smart children. This article shows that avoiding spanking and correcting misbehavior in other ways can help that happen.The role which is expected from law to play in stopping corporal punishment of the children within family to ensure their overall development is the key issue in this paper.
References
B. A., LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. (Law)& P.G. Diploma in Criminology,Assistant Professor, Department of Law, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong (Meghalaya) – 793022 (India). E-mail: mishrasiddhi@yahoo.com; smt.siddhi@gmail.com; Ph (O): +91-364-2723894; (M): +91-9436307531.
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Article 19 requiresStatesPartiesto take ‘all appropriatelegislative, administrative,social andeducational measuresto protect the childfromall formsof physicalor mentalviolence, injuryor abuse, neglector negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parents, legal guardians or any other person who has the care of the child’.
Article3 providesthat ‘no one shall be subjectedto torture or to inhumanor degrading treatmentor punishment’.
Andrew Bainham, “Family Law in a Pluralistic Society”, Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1995, pp. 234-247.
For a discussion of the Scandinavian laws and a more wide-ranging treatment of the whole issue of corporal punishment, see the Scottish Law Commission, Report on Family Law no. 135 (1992), at paras, 2.67-2.105. See, also, A. Bainham, “Reforming Scottish Children Law: Sense from North of the Border”, (1993) Journal of Child Law, Vol. 5, 1993, p. 3.
The authority was refusing to register Ms. Davis under s. 71(7) (a) Children Act 1989. It was following guidanceissued by the Departmentof Health to local authoritiesin The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations, vol.2, para. 6.22. This provided:
“Corporal punishment (smacking, slapping and shaking) is illegal in maintained schools and should not be used by any other parties within the scope of this guidance.”
This was, however,followedby a departmentalcircularin 1993whichmade it plain that the above guidance d id ‘not displacethe need for local registrationauthoritiesto reach theirown judgmentson the overallfitnessor unfitness of applicationsfor registration’.
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See, for details, Elizabeth T. Gershoff, “More Harm Than Good: A Summary Of Scientific Research On The Intended And Unintended Effects Of Corporal Punishment On Children”, Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 73, 2010, pp. 31-56.
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Dan E. Day & Mark W. Roberts,“An Analysis of the Physical Punishment Component of a Parent Training Program”,J. Abnormal Child Psychol., Vol. 11, 1983, pp. 141-150 cited in Mark W. Roberts, “Enforcing Chair Timeouts with Room Timeouts”, Behav. Modification, Vol. 12,1988, pp. 353-375.
See generally, Elizabeth T.Gershoff,supra note 3; Robert E. Larzelere& Brett R. Kuhn, “Comparing Child Outcomes of Physical Punishment and Alternative Disciplinary Tactics: A Meta-Analysis”,Clinical Child & Fam. Psychol. Rev., Vol. 8, 2005, p.1.
Bean & Roberts, supra note 42; Elizabeth T. Gershoff, supra note 3, at p. 545 table 3. Robert E. Larzelere& Brett R. Kuhn, supra note 49, at p. 17. Bean & Roberts, supra note 42 at p. 102.
See generally Martin L. Hoffman, “Affective and Cognitive Processes in Moral Internalization”, in E. Tory Higgins (et.al.),Social Cognition and Social Development, 1983, p. 236; Mark R. Lepper, “Social- Control Processes and the Internalization of Social Values: An Attributional Perspective”,in E. Tory Higgins (et.al.),Social Cognition and Social Development, 1983, pp. 294–95. Elizabeth T. Gershoff, supra note 3 at p. 547 table 4. Robert E. Larzelere& Brett R. Kuhn, supra note 49, at p. 25.
David C. R. Kerr (et al.), “Parental Discipline and Externalizing Behaviour Problems in Early Childhood: The Roles of Moral Regulation and Child Gender”, J. Abnormal Child Psychol., Vol. 32, 2004, pp. 369-379; N. L. Lopez (et al.), “Parental Disciplinary History, Current Levels of Empathy, and Moral Reasoning in Young Adults”, N. Am. J. Psychol., Vol. 3, 2001, pp. 193-200.
Catron& Masters, supra note 38, at p. 1815; Holden (et al.), supra note 38, at pp.441–42; Zahn-Waxler& Chapman, supra note 38, at p. 189.
See generally,Albert Bandura & Richard H. Walters, Adolescent Aggression: a Study of the Influence of Child-Training Practices and Family Interrelationships (1959); Leonard D. Eron (et al.), Learning of Aggression in Children (1971).
See generallyKenneth A. Dodge, “A Social Information Processing Model of Social Competence in Children”, in Marion Perlmutter (ed.),18 Minnesota Symposium On Child Psychol., (1986), p. 77; seealsoBahr Weiss (et al.), “Some Consequences of Early Harsh Discipline: Child Aggression and a Maladaptive Social Information Processing Style”, Child Development, Vol. 63, 1992, pp. 1321-1331.
See generally Martin L. Hoffman, supra note 54; Mark R. Lepper, supra note 54. Elizabeth T. Gershoff, supra note 3 at p. 547 table 4.
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Diana Baumrind (et al.),“Ordinary Physical Punishment: Is It Harmful? Comment on Gershoff (2002)”,Psychol. Bull., Vol. 128, 2002, pp. 580-589; Gershoff, supra note 3, at p.565–66; Larzelere& Kuhn,supra note 49, at p. 31–32.
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In some states, children in all schools are legally protected from corporal punishment under state laws (Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu). In Delhi, provisions for corporal punishment in the Delhi School Education Act (1973) were struck down by the Delhi High Court in 2000, and in 2004 the Calcutta High Court ruled that caning in state schools in West Bengal was unlawful.
Supra note 12; for details, see also, http://www.unicef.org/india/ child_protection_5386.htm(last visited on 01/12/2011 at 08:00 p.m.).
S e e f o r d e t a i l s , h t t p : / / w w w. u n i c e f . o rg / i n d i a / b a n n i n g corporalpunishment.pdf. (last visited on 05/02/2012 at 03:00 p.m.).
Retrieved from http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/pages/ progress/reports/india.html#Lawfulness on 02/02/2012 at 03:00 p.m.Corporal punishment is prohibited in care institutions under Chapter VI of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Rules (see above), but we have no information on comparable provisions in Jammu and Kashmir. It is lawful in non-institutional forms of care under section 89 of the Penal Code and, in Jammu and Kashmir, the Ranbir Penal Code (see above).
Sandra M. Nutley (et al.), Using Evidence: How Research Can Inform Public Services, Bristol, The Policy Press, 2007, pp. 1-2.
Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, States with Full Abolition, http://www.endcorporalpunishment.org/pages/ frame.html (last visited 14/09/ 2010 at 03:00 p.m.).
Susan H. Bitensky, Corporal Punishment of Children: A Human Rights Violation, Michigan, Transnational Publishers, 2006, p.159; Rowan Boyson, Equal Protection For Children: An Overview OfThe Experience Of Countries That Accord Children Full Legal Protection FromPhysical Punishment,NSPCC, 2002, pp.64–65.
Convention on the Rights of the Child, G.A. Res. 44/25, at 3, U.N. GAOR, 44th Sess. U.N. Doc.A/RES/44/25 (Nov. 20, 1989).
U.N. Comm. on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 8: The Right of the Child toProtection from Corporal Punishment and Other Cruel or Degrading Forms of Punishment (Articles 1,28(2), and 37, Inter Alia), at p. 6, para.18, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/GC/8 (Mar. 2, 2007). Rowan Boyson, supra note 75, at p. 6.
Anne B. Smith (et al.),The Discipline and Guidance of Children: Messages From Research, New Zealand Office of the Children’s Commissioner,2005,pp. 7–16Cited in Gershoff, Supra Note 3, at p. 547 Tbl.4.
See generallyBeth Wood (et al.),Unreasonable Force: New Zealand’s Journey towards Banning the Physical Punishment of Children, Wellington, Save the Children- New Zealand, 2008. Ibid at p. 31.
Centre for Effective Discipline, U.S. Organizations Opposed to School Corporal Punishment, http://www.stophitting.com/index. php?page=usorgs (last visited on 10/12/2009 at 09:00 p.m.).
Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Report on Physical Punishment of Children, List of Endorsers, October 1, 2009, http://www. phoenixchildrens.com/about/community-outreach-education/ pdfs/childabuse-prevention/Report-on-PP-List-of-Endorsers- October-1-2009.pdf(last visited on 10/12/2009 at 09:30 p.m.).DianaBaumrind(et al.), supra note66, at p. 586.
See generallyChild Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5101 (1974); Jill Goldman (Et Al.), U.S. Dep’t of Health And Human Services, A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice 9 (2003).
Murray A. Straus & Anita K. Mathur, “Social Change and the Trends in Approval of Corporal Punishment by Parents from 1968 to 1994”, in DetlevFrehsee (et al.), Family Violence Against Children: A Challenge For Society,Berlin, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1996, pp. 91- 96 fig.1.
Elizabeth T. Gershoff& Susan H.Bitensky, “The Case Against Corporal Punishment of Children: Converging Evidence from Social Science Research and International Human Rights Law and Implications for U.S. Public Policy”, Psychol., Pub. Pol’y, & Law, Vol. 13, 2007, pp. 231-232.
Joan E. Durrant, “Legal Reform and Attitudes Toward Physical Punishment in Sweden”, Int’l J. Child. Rights, Vol. 11, 2003, pp. 147- 169; StaffanJanson, “Response to Beckett, C. (2005): The Swedish Myth:The Corporal Punishment Ban and Child Death Statistics”, Brit. J. Soc. Work, Vol. 35, 2005, pp. 1411-1414.
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