Corporal punishment involves the infliction of pain physically on a person’s body as a way of punishing them for a crime they committed. It is commonly practiced on minors either at a school setting or at home. However, it has been extended to adults especially the prisoners and the enslaved people. Some common forms of corporal punishment include spanking, paddling, caning, birching, whipping and strapping. I do not support the idea of keeping corporal punishment in society. This essay, therefore, intends to explain why corporal punishment should be done away with altogether.
Newman, (2017) suggests that, when one is inflicted with physical pain, they tend to identify with the person inflicting it, and this makes them want to do the same to people. Such people have been seen becoming bullies and even abusers of their children and spouses because of the environment that they were once used to. To them, solving disputes involves using violent behavior.
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Moreover, in some instances, it is not always the one being punished that committed the said crime. The world is full of evil people and corruption, and mostly the rich usually get away with a crime. Those being punished therefore are the innocent ones, and it is very unfair. This infringes the provisions of the constitution that everyone has a right to a fair trial, thus allowing corporal punishment is a total dishonor to our constitution that our great founding wrote for us.
Also, corporal punishment causes a lot of pain to the inflicted person and gives them the strong urge for revenge. Even though the law protects those inflicting such pain, we should remember that their protection is just to some extent, it is not absolute. So, what would happen the moment the prisoner is released? There are high chances that they would want to revenge. In as much as corporal punishment is meant to deter criminals from committing crimes, it does not always work as most prisoners always come out more bitter than they were before and this would even cause more crime commitments (Blomberg, 2017).
Corporal punishment hurts a lot, not only to the offender but also to the family and friends as it is barbaric and inhumane. It inculcates cruelty in society and increases the tendency to do physical harm not minding the consequences so much as they get used to corporal punishment. This, therefore, disrupts the justice system and starts a chain reaction. It is not only insulting to the offender but also degrades the implementer (Garland, 2018).
Corporal punishment causes humiliation, and this may lower a person's self-esteem forever. Imagine being told to remove your shirt and being beaten so hard in front of everyone, how will such a person feel once he is released from prison? If someone commits murder and their hands are chopped off, what would that achieve? In as much as there will be physical pain, such way of punishment seems minute as compared to other forms of punishment like rehabilitation (Newman, 2017). Such can even slow down the economy since essential people are being made to feel less important and useless in society.
Generally, corporal punishment is inhumane, barbaric, degrading and it is good it was never kept. Instead, rehabilitation has worked best. A person is released out of jail as a better person with better skills than before. There is no bitterness involved as the offenders are treated humanely thus they become better people in the society.
References
Blomberg, T. G. (2017). American penology: A history of control . Routledge.
Garland, D. (2018). Punishment and welfare: A history of penal strategies (Vol. 29). Quid Pro Books.
Newman, G. (2017). The punishment response . Routledge.
Newman, G. R. (2017). Corporal Punishment. Routledge Handbook of Corrections in the United States, 96-105.
