U.S.: Corporal Punishment and Paddling Statistics by State and Race States Banning Corporal Punishment 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: Begin at the Office for Civil Rights : http://ocrdata.ed.gov/ocr2006rv30/wdsdata.html Click on “View the Data” Choose the first table under “Reported Data” (07A/08A) “Student enrollment…” 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. Once you have made your selection, click on “Data Categories” from the “Select Dimensions” menu. Make your selection from the available data types. Continue down the “Select Dimensions” menu, adding whatever information you would like to see on the report, i.e. race/ethnicity, gender, etc. When you have finished selecting from all available data, click on the icon in the top left corner. Back to top