SPRINGFIELD, Illinois — This school year, Illinois becomes only the fifth state in the U.S. to ban corporal punishment in all schools.
The legislation signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker this month bans physical punishment in private schools, while renewing a 30-year-old ban on the practice in public schools.
When the ban goes into effect in January, Illinois will join New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland and New York in banning the use of a paddle, spanking or hitting in all schools.
State Rep. Margaret Croke, a Democrat from Chicago, was inspired to take up the issue after an updated call from the American Pediatric Association to end the practice, which it says can increase behavioral or mental health problems and hinder cognitive development. The association found it disproportionately affects black males and students with disabilities.
“It was an easy thing to do. I don’t want any child, whether they’re in a private school or a public school, to be in a situation where corporal punishment is used,” Croke said.
Croke was also concerned about the Cassville School District in southwestern Missouri. After corporal punishment was abolished in 2001, restored two years ago as an opt-in for parents. Croke wanted to send a clear message that “it would never be okay to hurt or harm a child.”
Much of the world agrees.
The World Health Organization has labeled this practice as “a violation of the rights of children to respect for their physical integrity and human dignity.” In 1990, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child established a commitment to “prohibit all corporal punishment of children.”
The United States was the only one that did not adhere to the convention. Americans seem to have a pragmatic view of the practice, said Sarah A. Font, associate professor of sociology and public policy at Penn State University.
“Even though research shows pretty consistently that corporal punishment doesn’t improve kids’ behavior in the long run — and it can have negative consequences — people don’t want to believe that,” Font said. “People rely on their own experience of, ‘Well, I’ve had corporal punishment. I’ve gotten through it just fine.’ They ignore the larger body of evidence.”
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, introduced a bill last year, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois, to ban corporal punishment in schools that receive federal funds. It was assigned to a Senate committee for a public hearing in May 2023, but no further action has been taken.
The U.S. Supreme Court has also rejected constitutional claims against the practice. When junior high school students in Dade County, Florida, brought a lawsuit against physical discipline, the court ruled in 1977 that the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment was reserved for people convicted of crimes; it did not apply to classroom discipline.
Today, 17 states technically allow corporal punishment in all schools, though four states ban its use on students with disabilities. North Carolina law does not ban it, but every school district in the state blocked its use in 2018. Illinois lawmakers banned the practice in public schools in 1994.
Of the states that have banned corporal punishment outright, New Jersey took the unusual step of banning it in all schools in 1867. Iowa abolished it in private schools in 1989. Maryland and New York ended its use in private schools in 2023.
Private school advocates, who strongly oppose government intervention, did not oppose the new law.
Schools in the Illinois Catholic Conference do not use corporal punishment, according to Superintendent Bob Gilligan.
“It’s an anachronistic practice,” he said.
Ralph Rivera, who represents the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools, said he is not aware of any member schools that use the practice. While the group generally opposes state intrusion into its classrooms, Rivera said opposing a ban on corporal punishment on principle is difficult.
“Even if they don’t, they’ve told us to stay out of it because it doesn’t look good when you say, ‘No, we want to be able to hit kids,’” Rivera said.
The law does not apply to homeschooling. Homeschooled students are subject to the same rules during school hours as they face after school.
For student-athletes, discipline or correction on the football field or volleyball court would be too far-reaching a measure to be considered corporal punishment, Croke explained during the plenary debate on the measure last spring.
“We’ve talked in committee about a situation where a coach might have said, ‘Run laps,’” Croke said. “I don’t believe that would apply in any way because when we tell a kid to run laps, the purpose is not necessarily to cause pain.”
However, the legislative debate also highlighted Republican concerns that imposing this requirement on private schools could relax rules related to, for example, curriculum or religious instruction.
Croke, whose school-age child attends a Catholic school, said her intention was not to open the door to state regulation of private education, but to “keep children out of harm’s way.”
“There is a red line there, which is that hitting children should never be allowed,” Croke said.
