Gail Finney -- ostensibly in an effort to reduce child abuse, not encourage it in the classroom. It has long been legal in Kansas for a parent to use force to punish a child. Some school districts also use corporal punishment. Kansas is one of 19 states where corporal punishment in public schools is not outlawed, according to the Center for Effective Discipline website.
However, current Kansas law does not address corporal punishment, except through common law rights of parents to raise their children, said Britt Colle, the deputy county attorney who pushed for the bill, which was introduced by Finney.
The proposal would for the first time define what corporal punishment is in Kansas and what is permitted. And by application, Colle told the Los Angeles Times, it would also define what is illegal: using a belt, hitting with fists, hitting in the head.
Finney did not respond to requests for comment. Her office staff said she would issue a written statement. Colle, who serves in McPherson County in central Kansas, said the proposal was actually a way for prosecutors to more easily go after child abusers, whose attorneys defend them by saying that corporal punishment is legal in Kansas and the suspects were only disciplining their children.
The children become juvenile offenders and later criminals as they reach the age of majority. In recent years, researchers studying the hot-button issue of whether sparing the rod spoils the child have come to differing conclusions. Calvin College psychology professor Marjorie Gunnoe might agree with Colle.
