Corporal Punishment Bans and Physical Fighting in Adolescents: an Ecological Study of 88 Countries
This new study, published Monday in the British Journal of Medicine, highlights some of Dr. Michaelson鈥檚 work on corporal punishment. Through an analysis of data from 88 countries, territories and states, the research team demonstrated that youth around the world are less violent when corporal punishment is legally banned. The study shows that overall, societies that have banned corporal punishment as a means of discipline are generally safer places for children to grow up. It鈥檚 another piece of the work she has been doing with Dr. Bill Morrow, in which they challenge narrow interpretations of Christian scriptures that have been used to rationalize and even justify violence against children, and offer fresh interpretations of these texts. Here in Canada, if religious leaders and public health practitioners can work together, this law can be banned once and for all, and children can enjoy the same legal protections against violence that adults enjoy.