U.S.: Corporal Punishment and Paddling Statistics by State and Race 31 States (In White) Have Banned School Corporal Punishment Nineteen states (in red) have laws permitting corporal punishment in schools In the 2005-2006 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 Mexico 2011 N.M. STAT. ANN. Sec. 22-5-4.3 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 2005-2006 School Year: data released March, 2008 In the 2005-2006 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 Number of IDEA Students Hit Total Number of Students Hit Percentage of Total Students Alabama 33,716 381 34,097 4.6 Arkansas 22,314 261 22,575 4.7 Arizona 16 0 16 <0.0 Colorado 8 0 8 <0.0 Florida 7,185 118 7,303 .3 Georgia 18,249 155 18,404 1.1 Idaho 111 20 131 .05 Indiana 577 36 613 .05 Kansas 50 4 54 .01 Kentucky 2,209 1 2.210 .3 Louisiana 11,080 11 11,091 1.7 Missouri 5,159 35 5,194 .6 Mississippi 38,131 83 38,214 7.5 North Carolina 2,705 31 2,736 .2 New Mexico 705 44 749 .2 Ohio 672 0 672 .04 Oklahoma 14,828 325 15,153 2.4 South Carolina 1,409 12 1,421 .2 Tennessee 14,868 33 14,901 1.5 Texas 49,197 1,973 51,170 1.1 Wyoming 0 0 0 0 The 10 worst states, by percentage of students struck by educators in the 2005-2006 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 information about the study can be found at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights http://ocrdata.ed.gov/ Here's how to find corporal punishment data for your school district and school: To get corporal punishment data from your school or school district, go to this website: http://ocrdata.ed.gov/ Depending on whether you are searching for district survey results or results from a specific school, go to the "school search" or "district search" screen, fill out the form field, check the latest year of available data, and press "Search." On the right side of the screen that comes up, go to "DISCIPLINE." To find out the number of students receiving corporal punishment, choose from among the options on discipline – Discipline and Disability, Discipline of Students With Disabilities and Discipline of Students Without Disabilities. The latest data available is for the 2006 year. 2006 Civil Rights Data Collection contains information on 5,929 public school districts and 62,484 schools in those school districts. Your district and school may not be among those not sampled. You can also request a copy of your school district's corporal punishment statistics (school building and district information) from previous years from the district board of education office. Corporal punishment data is public information. Center for Effective Discipline July 1, 2010 Back to top