U.S. Statistics on Corporal Punishment by State and Race

Find the number of students paddled in your district

What Parents Can Do

What Can Kids Do About Paddling?

Corporal punishment policies
in the largest 100 U.S. school districts


U.S. Organizations Opposed to School Corporal Punishment

Newspaper Editorials

Facts vs. Opinions: School Corporal Punishment

Study: Paddling vs ACT Scores and Civil Immunity Legislation

Legislative and Grass Roots Strategies

Alternatives to School Corporal Punishment

Arguments Against Corporal Punishment

What Teens Can Do

Model State Board of Education Resolution on Banning Corporal Punishment

African American leaders call
for a ban on school corporal punishment

Forming a Coalition to Abolish
in Your School or State


Corporal Punishment Policies
in Catholic Schools


Children speak out about spanking in public schools

Ten Things We Know About Corporal Punishment

How corporal punishment was banned in Ohio public schools

A School Administrator's Testimony Against Paddling

The Paddle and The
Damage Done


To Parents of
Victimized Students

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

States Banning Corporal Punishment

states.gif (16813 bytes)

Twenty states (in red) have laws permitting corporal punishment in schools
In the 2006-2007 school year, 223,190 school children in the U.S. were subjected to physical punishment. This is a significant drop of almost 18%, continuing a steady trend from the early 1980's.
CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE

 

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
District of Columbia 1977 DC Municipal Regulations, Regulation 2403
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
Ohio 2009 Oh. Rev. Code Sec. 3319.41
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

*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
2006-2007 School Year: data released March, 2008

In the 2006-2007 school year, 223,190 school children in the U.S. were subjected to physical punishment. This is a significant drop of almost 18%, continuing a steady trend from the early 1980's.

State
Number of Students Hit
Percentage of Total Students
Alabama
33,716
4.5
Arkansas
22,314
4.7
Arizona
16
<0.0
Colorado
8
<0.0
Florida
7,185
.3
Georgia
18,249
1.1
Idaho
111
.04
Indiana
577
.05
Kansas
50
.01
Kentucky
2,209
.3
Louisiana
11,080
1.7
Missouri
5,159
.6
Mississippi
38,131
7.5
North Carolina
2,705
.2
New Mexico
705
.2
Ohio
672
.04
Oklahoma
14,828
2.3
South Carolina
1,409
.2
Tennessee
14,868
1.5
Texas
49,197
1.1
Wyoming
0
0

The 10 worst states, by percentage of students struck
by educators in the 2006-2007 school year:

Rank
State
Percentage
1
Mississippi
7.5
2
Arkansas
4.7
3
Alabama
4.5
4
Oklahoma
2.3
5
Louisiana
1.7
6
Tennessee
1.5
7
Texas
1.1
8
Georgia
1.1
9
Missouri
.6
10
Florida
.3

Notes:

African-American students comprise 17% of all public school students in the U.S., but are 36% of those who have corporal punishment inflicted on them, more than twice the rate of white students.

Almost 40% of all the cases of corporal punishment occur in just two states: Texas and Mississippi, and if we add Arkansas, Alabama and Georgia, 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

YEAR # WHITE   % # BLACK   % TOT. KIDS HIT  %
1976 992,675    65 447,314    29 1,521,896        3.5
1978 940,467    65 411,271    29 1,438,317        3.4
1980 901,032    64 403,386    29 1,408,303        3.4
1982 no statistical projection was made this year
1984 852,427    64 374,315    28 1,332,317        3.3
1986 659,224    60 345,411    31 1,099,731        2.7
1988 549,572    61 255,296    28 898,370          2.2
1990 346,488    56 208,543    34 613,760          1.5
1992 295,050    53 215,684    39 555,531          1.3
1994 256,363    54 182,394    39 470,683          1.1
1997 241,406    53 178,114    39 457,754          1.0
1998 199,572    55 135,523    37 365,058          0.8
2000 181,689    53 132,065    39 342,038          0.7
2003 159,446    53 115,819    38 301,016          0.6
2004 143,002    53 104,627    38 272,028          0.57
2006 119,339    53 79,613      36 223,190          0.46

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://ocrdata.ed.gov/ocr2006rv30/wdsdata.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 2006). 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://ocrdata.ed.gov/ocr2006rv30/wdsdata.html
  2. Click on “View the Data”
  3. Choose the first table under “Reported Data” (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, select the district/school name.
  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 View table icon in the top left corner.

Back to top


The Center For Effective Discipline
155 West Main Street, Suite #1603 Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. 43215 | Telephone: (614) 221-8829 | Fax: (614) 221-2110