Indiana Supreme Court reverses conviction, upholds parental right to spank
On the Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh comments on the Indiana Supreme Court’s recent ruling upholding the right of a parent to discipline their child through spanking. The case is Willis v. State of Indiana, No. 49S02-0707-CR-295 (Ind., Jun 10, 2008).
Volokh sumarizes and quotes the ruling:
. . . The Indiana Supreme Court reversed the conviction. The court agreed with lower courts that the “legal authority” defense recognized by an Indiana statute covered reasonable corporal punishment of a minor, and tried to clarify the scope of the defense:
[We adopt the Restatement (Second) of Torts view:] “A parent is privileged to apply such reasonable force or to impose such reasonable confinement upon his [or her] child as he [or she] reasonably believes to be necessary for its proper control, training, or education….
8 Comments
That is why god padded thier little bottems, but only out of love and never out of anger. If you are angered or frustrated, count to 10 slowely and then discuss the matter with the child. I always found the discussion was worse than the spanking.
Finally, a few Judges with some common sense!!
It has never been illegal anywhere in America to spank a kid, and no one was ever arrested for spanking unless it left significant bruises. This ruling changes nothing for normal parents. It simply tells abusers it’s ok to strip your kids naked and beat them black and blue with an extension cord. Thanks to four idiot judges abusers can now rest assured that they can never be held accountable.
As a child I lived my life in fear of the belt. Not the respectful fear of molesting a bee in the yard, but gnawing dread and mortal terror you would know if you were forced to sleep every night with a deadly rattlesnake under the covers of your bed.
Being abused does not teach you discipline or make you a good person. It leaves people permanently afflicted with crippling emotional and mental illness. It’s easy to say that being abused is better than not being disciplined at all when you are not the one living with flashbacks of beatings from decades ago that come uncontrollably while working, making love, or watching TV.
The mother in this case was asked to serve three days in jail for bruising her child during a spanking. This is a very modest price for a parent to pay to ensure that kids who are being whipped black and blue are allowed a day in court. But thanks to the selfishness of one woman and the foolishness of four judges thousands of victims of child abuse in Indiana are now denied any possibility of intervention, and will serve life sentences with trauma related injuries with no possibility of parole or appeal.
Indiana parents and survivors are organizing to fight this; please write your lawmakers and demand laws restoring the protection for kids that this irresponsible ruling removed.
http://www.in.gov/legislative/contact/index.html
[Admin. - the video link has been removed]
Dear Sir I agree with the courts ruling,parents do have the right to discipline their children,because if parents do not society will & trust me they will not like it. Tell the courts to MIND their own legislative business,kids today have so many rights,parents none result Chaos. Do they ever wonder why our jails are full?? Let parents do what they do best raise children,one who knows,I am a Father/Dad,my daughter is very respectful of authority,Amen!!
Gods word say spare the rod spoil the child.
I am very sorry for you “BeatKid”. What your video shows and what you describe is not a spanking. That is child abuse and is not allowed. Spanking is done in love, not anger or drunken rage. There is a very big difference. I hope you get the help you need to heal your heart.
I agree with the ruling to overturn the conviction. There is too much intrusion into the family. There are too many social workers who think they are gods and can do anything they want. They act first and think later. They cause more damage to the child and family than a spanking ever could.
This mother abused her son and got away with it; it has nothing to do with spanking.
As a father of one, and someone whom was “firmly disciplined, as a lad, I can say that it is a good thing that we can have the rights to firmly punish our children! I was tought morals, and the right things. My parents were honest caring and loving people. My grandparents even spanked me. There is nothing wrong with spanking, as long as it doesnt resort to domestic abuse, bruising, cuts, or any real damage to the child. You need to be fair, but firm. If the child disobeys time after time, its time to spank, and let them know you mean business. Otherwise the child, be it boy or girl, will walk all over you! and take advantage of the situation! As far as I am concerned, anyone who
doenst have children, or was never spanked, has no say so. Even if
they are the ones passing a ban on spanking.
It is illegal In Massachussetts to spank kids, even in New York! Google it… see for yourself, I know I had to!