Is corporal punishment a good deterrent to crime?

Not only is it a deterrent but it is a far far more effective tool than probation or parole. As a corrections officer and inmate rehabilitation consultant for over 20 years, understand what makes these people tick. Criminals do not think like normal law abiding citizens. These individuals live by a code of conduct and deal in a mindset where "might is right". This conduct and mindset carry over into prison life and they clearly understand and accept their place in the pecking order and established boundaries of prison society. Those boundaries are enforced with corporal punishment meted out by other inmates, and the system works. Using this same concept on them outside prison walls will also work because they understand and accept it. It would significantly reduce recidivism by speaking to them in a language they understand, control of behavior by infliction of physical pain.

Death and Deterrence Redux: Science, Law and Causal Reasoning on Capital Punishment: In an article in the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Dr. Jeffrey Fagan of Columbia University describes numerous serious errors in recent deterrence studies, including improper statistical analysis and missing data and variables that are necessary to give a full picture of the criminal justice system. Fagan writes, "There is no reliable, scientifically sound evidence that [shows that executions] can exert a deterrent effect…. These flaws and omissions in a body of scientific evidence render it unreliable as a basis for law or policy that generate life-and-death decisions. To accept it uncritically invites errors that have the most severe human costs." Since the landmark Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, dozens of studies have been performed to determine whether future murderers are deterred by the death penalty. In the past five years, Fagan writes, a "new wave" of studies has emerged, claiming that each execution prevents 3-32 murders, depending on the study. Some of these studies tie pardons, commutations, exonerations, and even irrational murders of passion to increases in murder rates. While many of these studies have appeared in academic journals, they have been given an uncritical and favorable reception in leading newspapers. Fagan takes issue with this lack of serious and adequate peer review by fellow researchers. He analyzed this research and found that "this work fails the tests of rigorous replication and robustness analysis that are the hallmarks of good science."(4 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 255 (2006))

The Uses and Abuses of Empirical Evidence in the Death Penalty Debate: A new edition of the Stanford Law Review contains an article entitled Uses and Abuses of Empirical Evidence in the Death Penalty Debate. The article examines and performs comparison tests on recent studies that have claimed a deterrent effect to the death penalty. Authors John J. Donohue of Yale Law School and Justin Wolfers of the University of Pennsylvania state their goal and conclusions: "Aggregating over all of our estimates, it is entirely unclear even whether the preponderance of evidence suggests that the death penalty causes more or less murder." (58 Stanford Law Review 791 (2005)).

Does Corporal Punishment Work

Yes as a matter of fact I believe it does. Spanking, done properly, will train a child in how to function within society. We, as a society, have to have rules in order to live peacefully. If you do not teach your children to follow these rules we have chaos. Look closely at the past in this country (US) up to the sixties, spanking was a widely held practice, and the crime rates were a lot lower. But as corporal and capitol punishment became less popular the crime rates started going up. Look at the children in our schools today. The ones from two parent homes do better in most if not all catagories and the majority of them get punished as needed at home. These children are less likely to get in trouble as they reach adulthood. Granted spanking isn't the only reason for this but it is a big contributor.

Here are more opinions and answers from other WikiAnswers contributors:

• No. If it was it would have worked by now

• Yes, if applied young enough. Spankings (properly utilized) have for hundreds of years caused children to grow up with respect for their tender bottoms and a wish to avoid doing anything that would cause such pain to again be inflicted. And if that is the promised punishment for crime they are more likely to avoid it. More seriously, proper discipline from parents (even if spankings are avoided) does prevent crime. It keeps people from growing up with the attitude that they have to right to things they haven't earned and that the rules do not apply to them. But, I would say that for adults it only works if the corporal punishment is severe and public. So, not a good system.

• Yes SIR, pain retains; GOOD TO GO?

• The zest of the English-speaking peoples for physical punishment is quite amazing. The answer (above) on spanking confuses respect and fear. The only other countries that have such blind confidence in corporal punishment are some of the Islamic countries!

• It obviously does not work in the US, as parents have been spanking their children for centuries and the crime rate continues to increase.

• Why some adults believe it is acceptable to hit children (that's what spanking is) who cannot defend themselves, yet insist on having the legal right to have a person who strikes them arrested and/or sued is a mystery to me.

• I am completely against it. Not once during my childhood was i spanked or in any way physically disciplined and i have never been in trouble with the police or any other authority figure.

• Coporal punishment has been distorted over time. Just spanking if anything is good for kids. I know if my parents didn't spank me I would have ended up pretty unruly with my parents and lost respect for people in control of things. Although some families full-on beat their children this just builds up anger and hate and can cause crime. Again all this can be different for different people. But I think parents should be allowed to smack their kids. (smack not beat)

First answer by ID1186008020. Last edit by Sedicee. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 84 [recommend question]