The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Corporal Punishment

a special kind of criminal punishment, which had arisen even in antiquity and which has persisted in several countries into the mid-20th century. Corporal punishment consisted in the public infliction of physical torment on the offender—for example, by beating with sticks (rods, switches) or with a knout or whip, by the amputation of extremities, the excision of the tongue, the tearing of the nostrils, and branding. It was widely used to compel the payment of tax arrears (in ancient Egypt) and debts (Russian pravezh, or the exaction by force of a debt or damages); it was universally used as a means to deal with slaves and to punish offending serfs.

In Western Europe, various forms of corporal punishment were established in law from the 13th century. Corporal punishment figured prominently in, among others, the “bloody legislation against the dispossessed,” the Carolina, and measures taken against heretics.

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References in periodicals archive

He said the author had amply mentioned provisions of national and international law and conventions for checking practice of corporal punishment to children at all places.

Book on corporal punishment and its adverse effects launched

Additional secretary interior responded that the legal document had reached to the ministry of interior and it had no reservation on implementation of the law to control corporal punishment.

NA body approves bill against corporal punishment in capital's schools

Until 2014, teachers were exempt from criminal prosecution for corporal punishment under Lebanese law.

Corporal punishment still common in schools: rights group

'I strongly believe that we should resist this trend in favor of a more balanced and nuanced approach, one that is both protective of the child as well as cognizant of the prerogatives of devoted parents who believe in the merits of corporal punishment, rightly administered,' he said.

Duterte vetoes bill banning corporal punishment for children

Duterte said the Philippines should resist the growing trend prevalent in western nations that sees all forms of corporal punishment as an outdated form of disciplining children.

Duterte vetoes 'anti-palo' bill

Elgar and his colleagues noted, ranging from a low of less than 1% among females in Costa Rica, which bans all forms of corporal punishment, to a high of 35% among males in Samoa, which allows corporal punishment in both settings.

Corporal punishment bans may reduce youth violence

In this case, however, the researchers caution that they see an association rather than a causal relationship between legal bans on corporal punishment and violence in youth.

Corporal Punishment, Youth Violence

Expert further said corporal punishment in the home refers to an act by a parent or other legal guardian causing deliberate physical pain or discomfort to a minor child in response to some undesired behaviour.

Child psychiatrist calls on parents to stop smacking their children

The Senate on Monday passed on third and final reading a bill seeking to prohibit corporal punishment against children below 18 years old.

Senate OKs bill prohibiting corporal punishment against children below 18

Corporal punishment has been used as a discipline management procedure in Kenya since the inception of formal education by the colonialists.

Why experts discourage caning on adolescents

class="MsoNormalIn Corporal punishment harms, no good in it (DN, June 19), Frank Peters cites the Bible to support his position that corporal punishment is harmful to a child and incorrectly implies that the rod and staff are the same thing.

It is alright, godly to discipline a child, the Scripture encourages it