VI. Behaviors Leading to Beatings

Students are beaten in schools for infractions ranging from minor misbehavior like speaking out in class to major violations such as fighting. While corporal punishment is never appropriate, it is particularly illegitimate when used as a disproportionate, angry response to minor infractions that might be expected from any child. Even in cases where students commit serious infractions, corporal punishment is not an effective method of redressing the problem.

Students with disabilities are also punished for behavior that stems from their disability itself. Students with disabilities-like all students-deserve tailored discipline programs that teach them appropriate behaviors and allow them to thrive. When they are punished for behaviors connected to their disabilities, they are subjected to particularly harsh discipline and unfairly denied access to quality education.

Misbehaviors Leading to Corporal Punishment

Most instances of corporal punishment reported to the ACLU and Human Rights Watch were for minor infractions, such as having a shirt untucked, being tardy (late to class or to school), or talking in class or in the hallway.[107] A superintendent in a district that uses corporal punishment noted that the practice is particularly egregious if used for minor misbehavior: "I hate to think that a child gets three or five swats for being late to class, I hate to think that a child gets three or five swats for running in the hall-those are minor infractions."[108]

Students in the early grades receive corporal punishment for behavior typical among young children. This is especially problematic for some students with disabilities, who can have trouble learning appropriate social behaviors.[109] Cynthia C., the mother of a boy with congenital brain abnormalities and developmental delays, noted that when he was six and seven, her son received corporal punishment at his Georgia elementary school for "screaming and kicking."[110] Young students with sickle cell anemia in Tennessee were paddled for forgetting forms or avoiding classwork.[111]

Corporal Punishment for Serious Offenses, including Violence

Some students we interviewed were subjected to corporal punishment for serious infractions, including fighting.[112] A serious disciplinary response is clearly appropriate in such circumstances, and very limited force may be used solely to protect the child or others.[113] Corporal punishment goes far beyond permissible force; it uses a violent technique to respond to violent misbehavior, ultimately reinforcing rather than changing the student's behavior. Research suggests that corporal punishment is linked to increased rates of aggression in school in the months and years following the punishment.[114] The ACLU and Human Rights Watch found that students with disabilities were among those beaten for violent misbehavior. One special education teacher in Mississippi observed, "I see these autistic children who get in fights and then get paddled. So you're supposed to teach them not to hit by hitting them."[115] Andrea N., the mother of a 10-year-old with ADHD, reports that her son was paddled for fighting, in violation of her expressed wishes.[116]  

Corporal punishment as a response to violence can be particularly ineffective for certain students with disabilities, especially where those students learn to model violent or self-protective behavior as a consequence of being beaten themselves. Tom R. noted that his son, a Mississippi boy with obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder, does not see corporal punishment as a deterrent: "With my son, it's not 'I did this, this is my consequence so I better correct my behavior.' It's 'I did this and it's wrong and now they hate me. Now they're going to beat me and I'm going to protect myself.'"[117]Johnny McPhail, the father of a Mississippi girl with autism, felt paddling was extremely detrimental: "An autistic child never forgets a paddling. They have total recall, programming needs to be the same. If you hit her, she'd be hitting, it's hard to talk her out of it."[118]

Punishment for Consequences of Disability

The ACLU and Human Rights Watch received numerous reports of students who were punished for the consequences of their disability. Many of the cases involved students with autism, who were physically punished for exhibiting behaviors common to children on the autism spectrum. Some parents reported that school staff did not take their children's conditions under consideration when administering discipline. Students are being beaten for behavior they simply cannot control, or cannot reasonably be expected to control, a grossly disproportionate and fundamentally demeaning response to the child's condition.

For instance, students with Tourette Syndrome, a condition that causes involuntary vocal and physical tics,[119] may be punished in part because of those tics. Anna M., whose son with autism and Tourette Syndrome was repeatedly punished, observed that "[My son] fought back, he had loud vocalizations, those were his tics. They kept restraining him. They dragged him down the hallway."[120]Michelle R. noted that her son's Tourette Syndrome induces physical tics:

One of his tics was balling up his fists ... that was seen as aggression and he would get in trouble with it ... He would try to explain that it was a tic, and he couldn't control it, but they see that as him escalating it. So now they have him in restraints and then they're giving him sedatives and calling for me to come pick him up. They had a closet and he would go in there and that's where he was hit.[121]

Jennifer Parker, an advocate who works with more than 750 school-age sickle cell patients in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas through a hospital clinic, observed that many of her patients are paddled for minor infractions directly related to their disability:[122]

Our kids [with sickle cell anemia] are at higher instances of having to repeat grades, or have difficulty with language or processing speed. A lot of our patients can't read, or can't read at grade level. With processing speed, once a teacher gives a direction, the kid might need to hear it multiple times or in different ways. The teacher might get angry when the kid doesn't follow the instructions, and paddles them.[123]

Students were punished for behaviors related to obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Tom R. reported that his son with OCD "would erase through a paper and get in trouble for that. It was a manifestation of his obsessive compulsive disorder, and they were punishing him for it."[124] One very young student in Texas, a three-year-old boy with ADHD attending a public pre-kindergarten program, was beaten and bruised during paddling.[125] He was paddled for taking off his shoes and for playing with an air conditioner.[126] The child sustained bruises to his hips that reached around to his navel.[127]

US federal law is not clear as to whether corporal punishment administered for conduct resulting from a student's disabilities is permissible.[128] The Rehabilitation Act of 1973[129] and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)[130] prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities, including students; discipline for conduct that is a manifestation of disability may rise to the level of discrimination.[131] However, the Office for Civil Rights at the US Department of Education, which enforces the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA, has issued regulations which do not expressly prohibit corporal punishment.[132]

Students with Conditions on the Autism Spectrum

According to our interviews, students with autism, especially very young students, were physically punished for exhibiting behaviors commonly manifested by children on the autism spectrum. Students with autism often have difficulty with "normal" school behavior or socialization, as "[t]he regression, or failure to progress, affects language, play, and social interaction and occasionally other skills."[133] Common behaviors stemming from the condition may include physical and verbal aggression, repetitive talking on a favorite theme, stubborn resistance, and the constant asking of the same questions.[134] The Committee on Educational Interventions for Children With Autism of the National Research Council notes that "[s]ocial dysfunction is perhaps the most central defining feature of autism and related conditions, so it is critical that the effects of a child's social disability on behavior be considered."[135]

Despite this medical and scientific evidence, the ACLU and Human Rights Watch received numerous reports of children with autism who were punished because of their behavior. Sharon H., the mother of a girl with autism in Georgia, described her daughter's experience: "One time, she was just sitting, rocking side-by-side in the gym. That's what autistic kids do. She was five at the time. The fourth-grade teacher grabbed her and dragged her across the floor."[136] Another kindergarten girl with autism in Georgia was thrown into a wall after she started rocking and spinning at the same time.[137]

An Oklahoma boy with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism, was paddled when he was five years old. His grandmother observed that the punishment was meted out as a direct result of her grandson exhibiting behavior normal for his condition:

Kids on the autism spectrum are very sensitive to noise and external stimulation. He was spinning, turning around in the middle of the floor with his arms out. A little girl walked into his hands. The principal said he'd hit her, and spanked him for it.[138]

When Karen W. went to collect her son Brian-a boy with autism-from his first day at a new school in Arkansas, she found him outside screaming, being held down by two staff members, with injuries including scratches and a split lip. Brian, who was eight years old at the time, had been restrained following minor misbehaviors associated with his condition: "the school said he wouldn't keep his shoes on, wanted to play outside, wouldn't stay where he was supposed to stay. This is a child with autism, completely outside of his normal routine."[139]

Parents reported that their students' conditions were not taken into account when educators meted out discipline, despite the fact that those disabilities were routinely discussed with the schools in question. May R., whose daughter with autism was injured during corporal punishment, noted that her teachers "didn't look at her disability, they looked at her behavior."[140] Anna M., whose son with autism was physically punished repeatedly when he was seven years old, noted, "The teacher felt he was doing some stuff on purpose. If you met him, you wouldn't know he was autistic straight away. People thought we were making an excuse for him."[141]

Educators, who face the difficult task of maintaining order in the classroom, may resort to corporal punishment because it is quick to administer, or because the school lacks resources and training for alternative methods of discipline. One teacher pointed out that corporal punishment can be considered "cost-effective. It's free, basically. You don't have to be organized. All you need is a paddle."[142] Logistical or financial obstacles may prevent teachers from using other methods of discipline. One 18-year-old student who was critical of the use of corporal punishment in his rural school district stated that "we couldn't have after school detention. There was no busing. Kids who got detention would have to find another way home."[143] Yet despite the "convenience" of corporal punishment, teachers we interviewed noted that it was ineffective. As a middle school teacher stated: "the immediate impact is to get that student to stop that behavior, but there is no guarantee that it [won't] continue."[144]

Educators may use corporal punishment against students with disabilities in part because they have little to no understanding of the consequences of those disabilities.[145] Parents emphasized that educators lacked the training needed to understand students' disabilities. For instance, Tom R., a Mississippi father of a boy with disabilities, noted that "there's a total lack of regulation regarding training, and a lack of connection."[146] Jennifer Parker, an advocate who works with students with disabilities, found that training can help: "We do some educational outreach. We provide the school with brochures, and with documents from [the hospital], medical records, clinic notes, etc. ... We're exchanging a lot of information between school districts and the hospital. I think this helps teachers understand."[147]