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U.S.: Corporal Punishment and Paddling Statistics by State and Race

States Banning Corporal Punishment

State	Year	Present Statute
Alaska	1989	AK Statutes Section 04AAC 07.010
California	1986	CA Education Code Section 49000-49001
Connecticut	1989	CT Penal Code Sec. 53a-18
Delaware	2003	DE Education Code Sec. 702
Hawaii	1973	HI Rev. Statutes Sec. 302A-1141
Illinois	1993	IL Compiled Statutes, School Code Sec. 5/24-24
Iowa	1989	IA School Code Sec. 280.21
Maine	1975	ME Criminal Code Sec. 106
Maryland	1993	MD Code Education Sec. 7-306
Massachusetts	1971	MA General Laws , Education Sec. 37G
Michigan	1989	MI Compiled Laws, Rev. School Code Sec. 380.1312
Minnesota	1989	MN Statutes Sec. 121A.58
Montana	1991	MT Code Annotated Sec. 20-4-302
Nebraska	1988	NE Rev. Statutes Sec. 79-295
Nevada	1993	NV Rev. Statutes Sec 392.4633
New Hampshire	1983	NH Rev. Statutes Ann. Sec. 627:6
New Jersey	1867	NJ Permanent Statutes, Education 18A:6-1
New York	1985	NY Regulations of the Board of Regents, 8 NYCRR 19.5
North Dakota	1989	ND Century Code, Elem. and Sec. Education Sec. 15.1-19-02
Oregon	1989	OR Rev. Statutes Sec. 339.250
Pennsylvania	2005	22 PA Code CHS. 7 and l2, Sec. l2.5
Rhode Island	1977	Wolfweseder v. Woonsocket, Commissioner of Education
South Dakota	1990	SD Codified Laws, Sec. 13-32-2
Utah	1992	UT Administrative Rule R277-608
Vermont	1985	VT Statutes, Education Sec. 1161a
Virginia	1989	VA Code, Education Sec. 22.1-279.1
Washington	1993	WA Administrative Code 180-40-235
West Virginia	1994	WV Code Sec. 18A-5-1 (e)
Wisconsin	1988	WI Statute Sec. 118.31

STATES WITH LIMITED BANS:

State	Year	Present Statute
Ohio	1994	ORC 3319.41 (A) (B) (D) Corporal punishment is banned unless a school board follows several procedures before voting to allow corporal punishment. Parents in districts which allow it may refuse to have their children paddled.

*Dates listed are when the law was enacted, unless otherwise noted.

Some states banned corporal punishment by law and some by regulation. Some states banned corporal punishment by removing permission for its use. Contact info@stophitting.org for specific information.

Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools
2004-2005 School Year: data released May, 2007

In the 2004-2005 school year, 272,028 school children in the U.S. were subjected to physical punishment. This is a significant drop of almost 10%, continuing a steady trend from the early 1980's.

The 10 worst states, by percentage of students struck by educators in the 2002-2003 school year:

Notes:

1. African-American students comprise 17% of all public school students in the U.S., but are 38% of those who have corporal punishment inflicted on them, more than twice the rate of white students.
2. One third of all the cases of corporal punishment occur in just two states: Texas and Mississippi, and if we add Arkansas, Alabama and Tennessee, these five states account for almost three quarters of all the nation's school paddlings.

Number of Students Struck Each Year in U.S. Public Schools

About the Study:

The above data and more can be found at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights website on this page: http://vistademo.beyond2020.com/ocr2004rv30/xls/2004Projected.html

The above state and national totals are statistical projections. Within each state you may find the data reported by your local school district, if it was one of the 6,000 districts asked for hard data. If your district is not listed, it was not surveyed or failed to report survey data.

Here is how to look up specific school districts on the Department of Education website:

Process for looking up Office for Civil Rights corporal punishment stats for school districts:

Here's how to find corporal punishment data for schools districts (from the year 2004). Data is not available for every school district in a state as the study uses sampling data:

1. Begin at the Office for Civil Rights: http://vistademo.beyond2020.com/ocr2004rv30/wdsdata.html.
2. Click on "View the Data"
3. Choose the first table (07A/08A) "Student enrollment..."
4. To choose data for a state, scroll down the list and choose which state you are interested in. To choose a specific school or district, click on the plus sign next to the state and check the box with the school you would like.
5. Once you have made your selection, click on "Data Categories" from the "Select Dimensions" menu. Make your selection from the available data types.
6. Continue down the "Select Dimensions" menu, adding whatever information you would like to see on the report, i.e. race/ethnicity, gender, etc.
7. When you have finished selecting from all available data, click on the icon in the top left corner.

Compiled By:

Center for Effective Discipline
155 W. Main Street, Suite 1603
Columbus, Ohio 43215
tel: (614)221-8829
www.stophitting.com