Before 1900
US/Schools - December 1873
Corporal Punishment in Public Schools.
Discussion about repealing CP ban in New York City
The Question of Corporal Punishment.
NYC fails to decide on bringing back CP for boys only
US/Reformatories - August 1877
Reform School Management.
Punishment regulations agreed for the Massachusetts Institution at Westborough
US/Prisons - July 1878
Flogging in the Kings County Penitentiary.
Controversy over whipping of female prisoner
US/Judicial - August 1878
A Girl Whipped for Larceny.
15 strokes for stealing after mother asks court not to send daughter to jail
US/Judicial - January 1879
Virginia Flogging.
Tramp whipped with a paddle by order of the mayor
US/Schools - March 1879
Whipping in the Public Schools
Iowa Supreme Court clarifies the legal position
US/Schools - October 1880
A Teacher Tried For Whipping a Boy.
Court clears teacher of assault charge after strapping of boy, 10
US/Prisons - February 1883
Warden Green, of Kings, on the Contract System. Ex-convicts on Paddling.
Inmates describe paddlings in New York prison
US/Schools - January 1887
Brutal Treatment.
Early use of word "paddle" in a school punishment case
US/Reformatories - December 1890
Old-style Spanking.
CP successfully introduced at Pennsylvania reformatory
US/Schools - March 1893
Slap or spank? School Punishment Query in Alameda. (illustrated)
A California school district consults parents; different methods pictures in cartoons
US/Schools - March 1894
Debate on Corporal Punishment.
The rattan is banned in schools in Newark, New Jersey
US/Prisons - April 1894
In Defense of Mr Brockway
Controversy over prisoners paddled with strap in New York
US/Prisons - December 1894
Findings of the Majority.
Description of New York prison "spankings"
US/Judicial - January 1895
To Whip Wife Beaters
CP proposal in New York State
US/Judicial - February 1895
The Whipping-post Bill.
New York State JCP proposal in committee
US/Reformatories - November 1896
Courts Are To Decide: Contest Over the Corporal Punishment Question.
New York state board's order to discontinue CP is resisted by institutions
US/Judicial - May 1897
A Good Paddling.
Six "young toughs" punished in court with "elegant white oak paddle"
US/Schools - December 1897
Dug Up an Old Law
Legislation invoked to cover school paddlings in Indiana
US/Reformatories - February 1898
Spanking by Electricity.
Spanking chair invented for use in girls' reformatories
US/Schools - November 1898
The Rod in Public Schools.
In Cincinnati, only boys may receive "the rod", applied to "the hips"
US/Reformatories - December 1898
Use Paddle on the Bad Boys. (illustrated)
Reformatory adopts CP with leather paddle; modus operandi described in detail; drawing of the room in which it is administered
Chicago Bad Boys Spanked.
New punishment policy is a success
US/Prisons - September 1899
Spanking Offenders.
Policy in Colorado jail is to spank unruly convicts with a paddle
1900s
US/Schools - October 1900
A Public Spanking.
Parents of several NJ youngsters ordered to give severe spankings in front of School Board
US/Judicial - February 1901
Five Men Whipped by Sheriff
JCP inflicted in Delaware
US/Judicial - July 1901
Girl Whipped in Court.
Mother punishes 15-year-old to save her from a jail sentence
US/Judicial - September 1901
Pilloried in Delaware
15 convicts flogged; "heaviest witnessed for twenty years"
US/Judicial - March 1902
Given A Public Spanking.
"Good hard spanking" for six young delinquents carried out immediately in New Jersey court
US/Schools - March 1902
Should Whipping in Public Schools Be Abolished?
Various views in San Francisco
US/Schools - May 1903
Corporal Punishment In Schools.
Letter-writer calls for its "return"
US/Schools - November 1903
Teachers Favor Corporal Punishment
Wrong to eliminate it entirely, say New York teachers
US/Schools - November 1904
Paddle Abolished. Unruly Youngsters Punished in That Mode at McKeesport.
Paddle used "in place of a rattan" in a Pennsylvania district
US/Judicial - December 1904
Capital Needs Whipping Post
President calls for wife-beaters in Washington DC to be flogged
US/Schools - December 1904
Want the Rod Put Back in the Public Schools
Minority report favours reintroduction of CP in New York schools
US/Judicial - February 1905
Would Lash Wife Beaters.
House Bill calls for JCP in DC
US/Judicial - June 1905
Spank Them, Teachers, Says Justice Olmsted
Court orders teachers to apply "rod or strap" to two young boys
Spanking Decision Stirs Up Educators
School principals taken aback by court order
US/Domestic - December 1905
And Now the Professional 'Spanker'
We need a US version of the Canadian young woman who spanks unruly children for a fee, says newspaper
US/Domestic - August 1906
To Be Spanked If He Weds.
Father will spank youth, 17, if he gets married before he is 21
US/Schools - September 1907
Rod May Be Used In Schools Again
New York Board of Education reopens the issue
Discipline in the Schools.
Principals should have power to inflict CP, says letter-writer
US/Domestic - October 1907
For Corporal Punishment.
Father of boys calls for less sentimentality about whipping
US/Schools - December 1907
Teachers Favor Flogging.
New York school principals say CP is unavoidable
US/Schools - April 1908
Sees Virtue in the Paddle.
Newspaper says it is the perfect instrument for taming boys
US/Reformatories - December 1908
Upholds Girl-Whipping.
New Jersey board decides to "carry on strapping" at Girls' Home rather than inject refractory inmates with drugs
1910s
US/Reformatories - January 1910
Jersey Home Board Upholds Whipping
New Jersey State Home for Girls finds "leather lashes" necessary for discipline
US/Schools - April 1910
May Pupils Be Flogged?
Supreme Court to decide legality of school CP
US/Judicial - June 1910
Forced to Whip her Son.
Boy, 15, is whipped at New York Children's Court
US/Schools - September 1910
Defend That Way of Maintaining Order In the Schools.
Ex-teacher writes in defence of the occasional "sound thrashing"
US/Reformatories - March 1911
Not like mother used to spank.
Flogging with "a leather lash" at boys' reform school in Minnesota
US/Reformatories - April 1911
Committee Makes Report. Those Who Had Charge of Red Wing Investigation Want Whittier Discharged.
Minnesota reformatory whippings criticised as excessive and cruel
US/Schools - June 1911
The Rod Helpful.
Corporal punishment fully justified, says former NYC Board of Education member
US/Schools - March 1912
Beat Boy With Rubber Hose
Unusual whipping implement in Kansas school case
US/Judicial - May 1912
Boy Sentenced to Spanking
He chooses "a good paddling" over workhouse, is disciplined forthwith by mother in courtroom
US/Schools - February 1913
M'Murry Outlines Rules for the Rod
Proposal for reinstatement of CP in New York schools
Corporal Punishment: Experienced Teacher Thinks It Necessary to Proper Discipline.
There are boys who will respond only to CP, says letterwriter
US/Schools - May 1913
School Strikes Spread
"Slippers and straps" brought in to discipline striking Boston school students
US/Judicial - August 1913
Ought We Revive the Barbarous Whipping Post? (illustrated)
NY judge leads calls for the flogging of gangsters
US/Schools - February 1914
Hazing is Ruled Out
Also no more spanking of freshmen at University of Washington in Seattle
US/Domestic - June 1914
Scientific Spanking.
Suburban mothers work out a scale of corporal punishment
US/Schools - December 1914
Churchmen demand spankers resign
Dispute in California over school punishments
US/Judicial - May 1917
Judge Lockwood Inaugurates Spanking In Juvenile Court As Punishment for Youngsters
In Arizona, ten Mexican lads receive CP in public
US/Judicial - July 1918
Spank Culprits In Court.
New York juvenile judge has four boys spanked for stealing a bicycle
US/Military - October 1918
Paddling Helps to Teach Drill Rules
"Court-martial" carries out immediate punishment on five Home Guard members
US/Schools - November 1918
Students Paddle Two Today
Public punishments at a Missouri university
US/Schools - April 1919
Vindication for Principal Douglass
14 boys whipped with rubber hose for playing truant in Vermont
US/Schools - June 1919
Seemed to Enjoy Paddling
University student runs the gauntlet
US/Schools - September 1919
Engineers Use the Paddle
Three violators of university campus rules are disciplined
Journalists Favor Engineers
Students vote to uphold paddling tradition at Missouri university
Lawyers Favor Paddling Plan
More support for use of corporal punishment at university
US/Schools - October 1919
Three Engineers are Paddled
Missouri University spankings for failure to attend meeting
Campus trespassers paddled first in 1905
Birth of tradition of CP at Missouri University
800 Are Expected at Farmers' Party
Twelve undergraduates get a paddling
1920s
US/Judicial - March 1920
Mayor's Spanking Machine A Substitute for Jail For Youthful Offenders (illustrated)
New Jersey "machine" is old-fashioned punishment over policeman's knee, pictured
US/Schools - April 1920
May Stop Paddling. Students to Vote on Measure Prohibiting Groups From Enforcing Rules.
Proposal to abolish CP at Missouri University
Paddling Is Upheld
Missouri students vote to retain corporal punishment on campus by 1,487 votes to 654
US/Schools - October 1920
University News
Report of paddling of an offender at Missouri University
US/Schools - November 1920
Will Spank 'Em by Electricity
"Electric spanker chair" machine at a Florida high school
US/Judicial - March 1921
The Inquiring Reporter
Vox pop: Chicago ladies give views on whether to bring back the whipping post for wife-beaters
US/Judicial - September 1921
Missouri Judge Uses Shoe To Spank Truant Schoolboys
Four delinquents punished in Juvenile Court
US/Schools - November 1921
Public Spanking for Students in Bonfire Raid
Eleven high-school boys face punishment
The "Spanking" Decision
A significant and important decision, says newspaper editorial
US/Schools - February 1922
Ten College "Don'ts": Evanston Judge Tells Northwestern Students What Not to Do.
University undergraduates subject to spankings for public misbehavior
US/Schools - July 1922
Nat Buckley at Ft. Snelling, Minn.
College students at officers' training camp decide offenders will be paddled
US/Schools - October 1924
Insist on Rubber Hose in Schools
Dispute over implement used for punishment at a school in New York State
School Hose Whip Will Remain; Teachers Agree On Compromise
It stings but does not leave a mark
US/Judicial - March 1925
'Woodshed Walloping' Given To Four Boy Delinquents
Old-fashioned spankings in two separate courts on same day
US/Judicial - April 1926
Wife-Beater To Get Five Lashes Today
Flogging ordered in Baltimore, Maryland
US/Judicial - May 1926
Wife Beater Jokes After Jail Lashing
Punishment at Maryland whipping post is witnessed by an invited audience of 200
US/Judicial - November 1926
Justice Urges Spanking For 24 High School Boys
Sequel to "pool-room raid" in New York
US/Judicial - February 1927
Judge Spanks Wife Beater
In Ohio, 20 times across the seat of offender's pants with a flexible hose
US/Judicial - July 1927
Judge Ready to Show Father How to 'Lick a Bad Boy Good'
NJ court advises "thick and heavy licking" for disobedient son
US/Domestic - March 1928
"Right to Spank" Court Issue
Mother Did Not Spare Rod (illustrated)
Girl, 16, pictured, takes mother, pictured, to court over whippings
US/Schools - April 1928
Don't Paddle Kids Like They Used To
School CP is on the decline, claims Pittsburgh superintendent
US/Schools - November 1928
Parents Assail Use of Rubber Hose in School
19 boys flogged with garden hose in Pennsylvania
1930s
US/Judicial - February 1930
Public Spanking Sentence For Young Girl Communist
New Jersey judge orders 20-year-old to be whipped by father for distributing political leaflets
US/Schools - April 1930
Teacher in Ohio Is Indicted For Use of Paddle Upon Girl Pupil
Case concerns the punishment of a 7-year-old in Ohio
US/Schools - May 1930
Teacher found not guilty of assault
Teacher shows how she hit girl (illustrated)
Sequel in Ohio case; student, 7, and teacher are pictured
US/Schools - October 1930
Thrashing in Missouri
230 whippings reported in Kansas City schools
US/Judicial - December 1930
Summary punishment by whipping given to six Michigan youths
Punishment for series of thefts administered to teens by relatives
US/Judicial - April 1931
Four Boy Thieves Lashed
Church pastor administers whipping in WA juvenile court
US/Judicial - February 1932
Jersey Judge Flogs 3 Schoolboys in Court
Police belt used on youths as mothers watch
US/Judicial - March 1932
7 Delaware Thieves Given 40 Lashes Each at Whipping Post
'Largest mass flogging of recent years'
US/Schools - March 1935
1,000 students hear H. School boys whipped
Ohio: Paddling of five boy smokers is broadcast over public address system
US/Illicit - August 1935
Four women stripped and spanked by striking garment workers at Dallas plants
Corporal punishment as a penalty for factory "scabs"
US/Schools - April 1936
Unspared Rods
CP-using teachers upheld, but a CA district prohibits it
US/Judicial - June 1936
17 Boy Vandals 'Licked' By Parents as Penalty
Mayor gets Pennsylvania parents to wield the belt
US/Judicial - July 1936
Use Rubber Hose to Whip Youths for $10 Robbery
Judge agrees to relatives' whipping proposal
Boys Lashed in Courtroom for Waywardness (illustrated)
Flogging of three youths is pictured in progress
US/Judicial - February 1937
Solomon's Spanking Suggestions Discloses Machines That Do
Magistrate suggests mechanised spanking instead of jail for boys of 16 and 17
US/Illicit - April 1937
Vanderbilt's Honor Society is Banned by the Chancellor (illustrated)
Paddling of fraternity pledge at university is pictured
US/Judicial - August 1937
Schoolchildren Whipped In Public
Ohio village marshal straps miscreants, claims delinquency down
US/Judicial - March 1938
Wife Beater Recovering From Lash (illustrated)
20-stroke flogging in Baltimore jail is pictured
1940s
US/Judicial - July 1940
Spanking in the news
Judge lets man off with whipping from wife
US/Military - July 1944
Command: Object Lesson
Army prisoners flogged on their bare backsides
US/Judicial - June 1946
Three Soldiers Accept Lashing
20 lashes each given in public court in exchange for suspension of jail terms
US/Schools - January 1949
Trouble in Twinsburg
Controversy over a paddling school superintendent in Ohio
1950s
US/Schools - May 1950
Broad Paddle, Not Hickory, Recommended for Paddling
A school district in Oregon lays down detailed instructions for CP
US/Judicial - December 1950
Youngsters' Escapade Ends With Paddling
They're Not Spoiling This Trio (illustrated)
Three runaway teens are pictured being paddled at police station
US/Prisons - July 1951
Understandable language (illustrated)
Colorado prison governor gives flogging demonstration
US/Schools - October 1951
S.F. Teacher Reprimanded For 'Paddling'
Mother complains 13-year-old paddled for tardiness; CP only for extreme cases, says Board of Education
US/Reformatories - January 1952
Patterson Named to Board To Study School Floggings
CP allegations to be investigated in Arizona
US/Illicit - February 1952
Highway Officer Praises Hotrod Safety Work
Young drivers' clubs keep members in line with paddlings
US/Schools - October 1952
Hempfield Board Hears of Complaints
Girls Paddled, Parents Angered (with cartoon)
CP for students at a PA junior high school
US/Domestic - September 1953
"I'm Too Old for Spanking" High School Girl Complains
Implausible "letter to agony aunt"
US/Schools - February 1954
The Spanking
Fuss in Georgia over paddling at blind school
US/Domestic - January 1955
Father's Words Came True
Dislocates his shoulder while slippering son
US/Reformatories - January 1956
Primitive Weapon? (illustrated)
No, it's the official leather strap at Ohio reformatory
US/Domestic - February 1957
Grandmother Is Professional Spanker
Maine woman charges a dollar a go to chastise unruly youngsters
US/Reformatories - June 1957
Probe Lad's Beating By Youth Hall Guard
12-lick paddling of reformatory inmate, 16, is described
US/Schools - October 1957
The Hickory Stick Tries a Comeback
Article claims school CP had become rare from 1920s but was now once more in favor
US/Schools - February 1958
The Firm One
Spare the Rod?
Judge throws out case against young teacher who paddled 4th-grader; readers respond
US/Domestic - February 1959
High Court Rules Spanking Wife Legal
Iowa Supreme Court decides CP by husband is not grounds for divorce
US/Schools - February 1959
Boys Get Paddle; Moms The Word (illustrated)
Protest over a principal's paddling (illustrated)
Seven angry parents (illustrated)
20 senior boys (5 pictured) in Tennessee mass paddling row
1960s
US/Schools - February 1960
Counselor, School Board Member Charged In Beating
Teen boys punished on buttocks with rubber hose at Ohio school
US/Schools - March 1960
Teacher Swings a Mean Paddle (illustrated)
30 boys whacked by Pennsylvania high school teacher, pictured
US/Domestic - October 1961
What Young People Think. Spankings Endorsed By Most Youngsters (with cartoon)
83% had been spanked, of whom 87% thought they had deserved it
US/Schools - March 1962
Punishment by Teacher Questioned
California parents complain of paddle lines for PE boys
US/Judicial - June 1962
4 Boys Help Initiate Court's New Paddle
Ohio judge orders spankings for arson; administered in presence of parents; culprits aged 12 to 15 "surprised" by ruling
US/Judicial - July 1962
Spanking New Idea in Indiana court
Beer-Drinking Youths Given Spanking By Police
Boy Rowdies Start Beach Cleanup (illustrated)
Ridicule as a Weapon Against Rowdy Youth
Whiting Doesn't Spare the Rod (illustrated)
Courtroom public spankings for three teens, pictured
US/Judicial - September 1962
They Call Me The Spanking Judge
Indiana judge on the background to his courtroom spanking orders
US/Judicial - November 1962
Juveniles Pick Spanking Over Weekend In Jail
Four 17-year-olds paddled in Ohio courtroom
US/Schools - February 1963
School Officials Have Varying Opinions On Spanking Junior
Attitudes in different states compared
US/Judicial - April 1963
"Belt Him", Said the Judge
19-year-old gets pants-down whacks from father in Indiana court
3 Teen-Age Boys Spanked in Court
"Smack of open hand against rump" as young thieves bend over desk in New Jersey courtroom
US/Judicial - June 1963
Local Veterinarian Treating Puppy
He Sets Fire to Pup; Gets 20 Lashes
Court orders twenty lashes (illustrated)
Employer of Dog Burner Says Youth Still Has a Job
Burned Pup May Make It, Says Veterinarian
Spunky Is "Better Than Expected"
Indiana judge orders strapping for youth, 20, pictured
US/Judicial - July 1963
Sentenced to Spanking
15-year-old traffic violator gets "walloping" from father in courtroom on judge's orders
US/Judicial - September 1963
Parents Whip 5 Youths At Judge's Suggestion
Boys aged 15 to 18 won't be sitting down for a while, says police witness
Won't Spare the Strap (illustrated)
VA Juvenile Judge, pictured, sends teenage boys to figurative woodshed for old-fashioned strapping
US/Judicial - February 1964
Bill Asks Flogging Of Kid Punks
Public corporal punishment proposed in Michigan
Will Oppose Punishment By Whipping
Michigan Attorney-General rejects JCP proposal
Flogging Bill's Sponsor Thinks Public Favors It
Michigan whipping proposal attracts much praise, some opposition
US/Judicial - March 1964
Bill On Whippings Is 'Beaten To Death'
Michigan House kills JCP idea
US/Prisons - February 1967
Down on the Farm
Floggings with strap revealed at Arkansas prison
US/Judicial - March 1967
Bill Would Give Policemen Right To Spank Youths
Illinois bill calls for instant JCP for errant teenagers
Now, 'stop and spank'
Editorialist doubts practicability of "police CP" plan
US/Schools - October 1968
Paddle Passes As Traditional School Disciplinary Measure
CP said to be getting more rare in Texas
US/Schools - November 1968
Corporal Punishment Stirs Creswell Mothers' Wrath
Elementary students' parents in Oregon make a fuss about paddling
US/Judicial - December 1968
Youth Takes His 20 Whacks to Avoid Prison Term (illustrated)
Schoolboy, 16, pictured, receives whipping on orders of Oklahoma judge, pictured
US/Judicial - September 1969
Judge Is Suspended Over Whipping Incident
Courtroom spanking of girl, 18, by her mother
1970-1975
US/Schools - February 1971
15 Paintsville High girls face paddling or expulsion
Kentucky principal who "gets results" using CP says he will spank dress-code violators himself
US/Schools - May 1971
Bottoms Up in Big D (illustrated)
'Newsweek' finds wholesale paddling in Dallas, TX; girl, 11, pictured, says spanked four times in one month by principal, pictured
US/Schools - June 1972
The Beaten Generation
TIME magazine notes paddlings in Dallas; Massachusetts bans the paddle
US/Schools - July 1972
Letters
TIME readers comment on school CP
US/Domestic - February 1974
Boys' fantasy turns to shock (illustrated)
Runaway brothers, pictured, return home to spankings
US/Schools - December 1974
District 2 Board Okays Corporal Punishment Policy
A North Carolina district lays down new paddling rules
US/Schools - October 1975
Teachers reign over parents on spanking
US Supreme Court holds that parental permission for CP is not required
US/Schools - November 1975
The Updated Hickory Stick (illustrated)
Paddles, pictured, thrive in US classrooms; statistics quoted
US/Schools - December 1975
Segregated Academies (illustrated)
Paddlings at Tennessee Baptist high school; several students pictured