In 1994, Michael Fay, an American teenager convicted of spray-painting parked cars, was flogged in Singapore.

In 1994, Michael Fay, an American teenager convicted of spray-painting parked cars, was flogged in Singapore. The flogging (called caning because it was done with a bamboo rod) sparked an international outcry from opponents of corporal punishment. In the U.S., however, it also led to a rebirth of interest in physical punishments – especially for teenagers and vandals.

The last official flogging of a criminal offender in the US took place in Delaware on June 16, 1952, when a burglar was tied to a whipping post in the state’s central prison and was given 20 lashes. Since then, one sentencing authority in this country has imposed whipping as a criminal punishment, and most jurisdictions have removed all corporal punishments from their statutes. Moreover, corporal punishment, other than capital punishment, is now forbidden in U. S. prisons under the Eighth Amendment. Amnesty International, however, reports that whipping is still in use in parts of the world for certain kinds of prisoners. After the Fay flogging, lawmakers in eight states introduced legislation to institute whipping or paddling as a criminal sanction. Mississippi legislators proposed paddling graffitist and petty thieves, Tennessee lawmakers considered punishing vandals and burglars by public caning on courthouse steps, the New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee examined the feasibility of caning graffiti vandals, and Louisiana looked in to the possibility of ordering parents (0r a correctional officer if the parents refused) to spank their children in judicial chambers. So far, none of the proposals have become law.

Discuss the various goals of sentencing. Which do you favor? Why?

Would a return to corporal punishments, in the form of whipping or paddling, be justified for some offenders? Why or why not?

Do you think that any state legislatures will eventually pass legislation permitting the paddling or whipping of criminal offenders? Why or why not?