Thesis statement: Although punishment can be seen as a cruel way to discipline children, I argue that children should be disciplined for their wrong-doings in order to become more mature through corpo

Aalok Pokharel

Professor Gallego

English 1302

30 April 2019

Punishment Without a Crime:

An Annotated Bibliography

Thesis statement: Although punishment can be seen as a cruel way to discipline children, I argue that children should be disciplined for their wrong-doings in order to become more mature through corporal punishment, reasonable punishment, and negative punishment.

Cope, Kristin Collins. “The Age of Discipline: The Relevance of Age to the Reasonableness of Corporal Punishment.” Law & Contemporary Problems, vol. 73, no. 2, Spring 2010, pp. 167–188. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=57803485&site=ehost-live.

The Article “The Age of Discipline: The Relevance of Age to the Reasonableness of Corporal Punishment” was written by Kristin Collins Cope. The article’s main idea is to explain the purposes and objectives of reasonable corporal punishment with relevance to the age of the children. The article presents different approaches of punishing children for their mistakes while considering their age and by presenting what is a reasonable punishment in different cases. The author explains the meaning of the term “reasonableness” in context to corporal punishment. It provides limitations of corporal punishment and gives example of how different states reflect limitations of corporal punishment in their case law. I will use the quote, “given a relatively ‘healthy’ family life in a supportive environment, spanking in and of itself is not detrimental to a child or predictive of later problems” in my essay because it helps me support my argument saying that “reasonable” punishment is not harmful for a child and it aids in teaching morals to children (Cope 180). The author has a bachelor’s degree of Science from Trinity University and a Juris Doctorate degree from Duke University School of law. The article is about 23 pages in length and the author has cited 132 sources in this article which assured me that this article is a credible source to be used in my essay.

Elder, Sace. “A Right to Beat a Child? Corporal Punishment and the Law in Wilhelmine

Germany.” Central European History, vol. 47, no. 1, 2014, pp. 54–75. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/43280408.

The article, “A Right to Beat a Child? Corporal Punishment and the Law in Welhemine Germany” was written by Sace Elder. The article’s main purpose is to inform and present the right to corporal punishment in German legal culture. The article details the beliefs and practices regarding justice and the law. The author details the tension between the parents’ rights in raising their child, society’s interest in well behaved children, and the child’s integrity to his or her own body. The article uses Germany’s civil law and details the jurisprudence and outlines of the dispute between Germany’s professional and popular legal cultures. I will use the quote, “Similarly, the 1863 Civil Code of Saxony stipulated that parents could demand obedience from their children and enforce that obedience with “reasonable means of domestic discipline” (Elder 60). This quote shows the relevancy to the essay’s argument that the use of corporal punishment is correct because it is supported by the law. The article is 22 pages in length and the author cites many sources which leads me to believe this is a credible source which could be used effectively in my essay.

Leijten, Patty, et al. “Parenting Behaviors That Shape Child Compliance: A Multilevel Meta-Analysis.” PLoS ONE, vol. 13, no. 10, Oct. 2018, pp. 1–15. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0204929.

The article “Parenting Behaviors That Shape Child Compliance: A multilevel Meta-Analysis” is written by Patty Leijten, Frances Gardner, G.J. Melendez-Torres, Wendy Knerr, and Geertjan Overbeek. The article’s main purpose is to inform the reader how different types of negative reinforcement, including time-outs and ignoring, help children comply more when being punished this way. The article talks about an experiment conducted to show how child compliance increases when parents take action to correct the child. The article includes statistical evidence proving that applying these methods result in higher child compliance. It also includes statistical evidence on how positive reactions to misbehavior does not increase child compliance, proving that negative punishment is more effective. The quote I will use is, “Our findings in part support this hypothesis, by suggesting that mainly disciplining behaviors (i.e., time-out and ignore, and in part verbal reprimand), as opposed to praise, improve immediate and short-term child compliance” (Leijten, et al. 10). This can be used as an example in my essay because it proves that negative punishment is effective to disciplining children. This article is 15 pages in length and has cited 52 sources. The authors of this article each come from credible institutes such as, the University of Oxford, the University of Amsterdam, the Warwick Medical School, Cardiff University, and the University of Glasgow.

Wang, Meifang, and Li Liu. “Reciprocal Relations Between Harsh Discipline and Children’s Externalizing Behavior in China: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study.” Child Development, vol. 89, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 174–187. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/cdev.12724.

The Article “Reciprocal Relations Between Harsh Discipline and Children’s Externalizing Behavior in China: A 5-year Longitudinal Study” was written by Meifang Wang, and Li Liu. The article’s main purpose is to inform how children who are driven by parent harsh discipline changes their externalizing behavior that leads them to become more aggressive. The article explains how in China the externalizing behavior of children’s relationship with their parents by their parental driven effects has changed them across time. The article goes into detail about which parent, the mom or dad, of said children uses more physical punishment. As well as which gender, being female or male, of the child is the most affected by physical punishment. It provides data, examples, facts and results in order to support that this harsh parent driven effect has had a negative impact on children and has increased over the years. I will use the quote “Moreover, two studies examining the effects of parental harsh discipline on children’s externalizing behavior suggested that physical aggression, rather than psychological aggression, was a more powerful predictor of children’s externalizing problem” (Wang and Liu 183). I will use this quote on my essay because it proves that children are more likely to have external problems such as aggression, if they are disciplined physically. Dr. Liu has a bachelor’s degree in history and has both a masters and PhD degree in Anthropology that makes her statement more credible. The article is 14 pages in length and includes data that further supports the main idea of the article.