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American Morning
Corporal Punishment Remains Legal in Many States
Aired April 12, 2002 - 07:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn now to a new look at a very old question. Corporal punishment in schools: many critics say it is barbaric. Other, though say it is a "necessary evil", in their words. Whether effective or destructive, this form of discipline is still legal in nearly half of the United States.
And in a moment we're going to meet a student who was paddled and whose family now is striking back with a lawsuit. First, our Thelma Gutierrez has this look at the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: ... solving this problem. What kind of strategy do you need to do in order to solve this problem?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At school it is a way to get kids to behave ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I wasn't like the greatest kid in the world. I was always goofing around. A way to somehow make them better students.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember in Kindergarten, my very first year, I forgot to put my name on a paper ...
GUTIERREZ: ... and help them learn discipline.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a reminder of, if you do it again you will get that punishment.
GUTIERREZ: The punishment?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just smacked me right in the face - like that.
GUTIERREZ: It's called, corporal punishment, a physical reprimand by a school official. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, corporal punishment is administered between one and two million times a year in schools across the country. And they recommend it be abolished because it can hurt a child's self-image. But some say there is nothing wrong with a little discipline.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is something wrong with the system here. Powers are taken from the teachers and in the hands of the kids, because of the legal system.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There might be some type of program of punishment that would be suitable, but not physical punishment.
GUTIERREZ: 23 states, including Arizona, Florida, Mississippi allow corporal punishment. While 27 states like California, Washington and New York have banned corporal punishment. Regardless of where you are on the debate, everyone agrees on the central issue. Parents and teachers want kids to behave.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And when Megan Cahanin was in fourth grade, she felt the pain of a principal's paddle. Her parents responded by taking the Louisiana School District to court in an effort to abolish paddling in the state's public schools. Corporal punishment, they say, left their daughter with emotional scars too.
Joining us this morning from Shreveport, Louisiana, Megan Cahanin, who is now 11, her father, Robert, and Kent Mercier, the family's attorney. We do want to mention that the Sabine Parish school board in Louisiana declined our invitation to appear on the show. They had no comment, except to say no laws were broken.
Good morning to you all -- thanks so much for being with us this morning.
ROBERT CAHANIN, DAUGHTER PADDLED BY PRINCIPAL: Good morning.
KENT MERCIER, ATTORNEY: Good morning.
ZAHN: So, Megan, I'd like to start with you this morning. Why did your principal paddle you in the first place?
MEGAN CAHANIN, PADDLED BY TEACHER: Because I elbowed my friend in the back, because we were arguing.
ZAHN: And did you not listen to her when she said, "stop," or did it go further than that?
M. CAHANIN: It didn't go further than that.
ZAHN: And then what happened?
M. CAHANIN: Then we went to the principal's office, and she talked to both of us. And then she said it was in violence in her school, and then she told the little girl to get out of her office. Then she told me she was going to paddle me, and I begged her not to. And she just said that she was going to paddle me, and I bent over and she beat me.
ZAHN: How many times did she strike you?
M. CAHANIN: Three. ZAHN: How much did it hurt?
M. CAHANIN: A lot.
ZAHN: So when you went home, what did you tell your parents?
M. CAHANIN: That the principal paddled me, and I said that it left bruises -- she left bruises on me.
ZAHN: So, Robert, when you saw the bruises that were left on Megan's body, you knew obviously corporal punishment was legal in the school, what went through your mind?
R. CAHANIN: I was shocked at what I had seen, and I just wondered why did she have to inflict pain on my daughter to leave bruises so severely.
ZAHN: And how frustrating was it for you? At that point, there was not much you could do about it, because this principal had broken no law.
R. CAHANIN: No, she didn't break no law, but what happened to my daughter went far beyond a spanking or corporal punishment.
ZAHN: And explain to me what you mean by that? The number of the times that she struck her, or how forcefully she struck her?
R. CAHANIN: How severe the bruises were, how long they lasted and the emotional and physical scars that it left on my family and Megan herself.
ZAHN: Tell us a little bit about those emotional and psychological scars. How damaging has it been?
R. CAHANIN: It has been pretty damaging. She doesn't really trust the school system now, and she didn't want to go to school at first and had to seek psychological help to get her through this. And it's something that we'll never forget.
ZAHN: So, Kent, how complicated is this when the Cahanins have filed this suit? And essentially, the school board is arguing no laws were broken here. What that principal did was perfectly legal.
MERCIER: Right. In fact, in Louisiana, she has a certain amount of limited immunity in this area, and the whole purpose of the lawsuit was to change the laws, to basically say this is wrong. In our state, as many other states, it's illegal to inflict corporal punishment on prisoners. It's illegal to inflict corporal punishment on mental patients, on anybody else in society. It's illegal to beat your spouse or your dog, but it's not illegal for a school official to paddle a child with a weapon, with a paddle, and leave big pancake- sized bruises on the child. And we think that's wrong, and it's time to stop.
ZAHN: Is that how big Megan's bruises were? MERCIER: Well, Megan's bruises covered both buttocks. Yes, that's how big they were, and they were dark, and they lasted for weeks.
ZAHN: Well, Kent, let me ask you this. You no doubt have heard what the school district has said in its defense, and they basically say corporate punishment is perfectly legal. And they go on to say that they use it as -- quote: "a message to correct behavior. Any educator has to have a number of disciplinary measures available." Why are they wrong?
R. CAHANIN: Well, they say in the rules, in the school rules that this should be used as a last resort when all other methods have failed. And they did not use no other methods for my daughter. They just told her no violence was accepted in the school. Now, bend over, and I'm going to beat you until I bruise you.
ZAHN: And, Megan, I know your father said this has affected your level of trust, but has it changed your behavior at all? I mean, the whole reason for doing this, the school district says, is to make sure kids listen to their teachers. Has it changed your behavior?
M. CAHANIN: No, ma'am.
MERCIER: Megan -- ma'am, Megan was an honor roll student when this happened, had never been subjected to discipline before. This was not a child that needed to be beaten into submission. In fact, no child does. But an honor roll student with no prior discipline receiving bruises of this magnitude under the auspices of corporal punishment, the whole process needs to go.
ZAHN: And once again, you say your whole goal is to get the laws changed in the state of Louisiana. We appreciate all three of your joining us this morning to help us understand what you have been through.
MERCIER: Thank you.
R. CAHANIN: Thank you.
ZAHN: Thank you for your time -- have a good weekend.
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