Indiana Political Review

This story in Indiana Lawyer raises the question of where parental discipline gives way to child abuse. According to the story, Sophia Willis was convicted of child abuse after spanking her child seven times with an extension cord or belt. The story is sort of fuzzy as to which exactly.

“We sympathize with Willis’s argument that she is a single parent who is doing the best that she can, but we cannot condone her choice to whip her child with an extension cord to the point of causing him pain,” the court said. When I was a child, I always thought the point of the corporal punishments I endured were to cause pain. What other reason is there for getting the belt (or, in our case, the black wiffleball bat)?

I don’t think that being beaten by an extension cord is kosher. It probably amounts to abuse. But, the standard should not be the infliction of pain. Indiana statute states that a person can be convicted of battery of a child if  he knowingly or intentionally touches a person who is less than 14 years of age in a rude, insolent, or angry manner and causes bodily injury. (IC Sec. 35-42-2-1). A parent is authorized to discipline his child in a manner that would otherwise be a violation of the above statute as long as the corporal punishment is “reasonable.” Folks, that is awfully squishy. And, if the infliction of pain vitiates the reasonableness of the punishment, then parents all over Indiana are in grave trouble.