Fifteen U.S. States Maintain Legality of Corporal Punishment in Public Schools
Corporal punishment remains legal in public schools across 15 U.S. states, despite broad consensus among psychologists regarding its potential harm to children. The practice, which often involves paddling, is not banned by federal law, leaving decisions to individual states and local districts. The most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) for the 2021-22 school year reported nearly 32,000 instances of corporal punishment in K-12 schools, equating to approximately one incident per 2,000 students. While 30 states and Washington, D.C., have explicit bans, other states either lack explicit prohibitions or have laws interpreted as bans. The majority of reported incidents occur in eight states, primarily in the Southern U.S. For example, Arkansas and Mississippi show some of the highest rates. Some communities, particularly in the South, view corporal punishment as rooted in faith-based beliefs or cultural norms for child-rearing. However, there is also growing... 
