A more general piece about paddling in certain East Texas school districts, and what people think about it. South Africa: unidentified pictures of illegal punishment with plastic ruler (possibly posed but might be real), 2002

Singapore: Two German youths sentenced to caning (3 strokes each) for vandalism, March 2015. Three video reports. United States: TV news report (June 2013) about a proposal to reintroduce the punishment paddle in a Texas school district that had abolished it five years previously.In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Ingraham v. Wright that corporal punishment in schools is constitutional, establishing a federal standard for its continued legal use. United Kingdom, juvenile birching pony, Beamish Museum, from a police station in Sunderland (two views) Schools in Temple, Texas, report improved behavior following the reintroduction a year ago of the paddle.

Pakistan: woman receives unofficial Taliban flogging on the ground, Swat Valley, 2009 (also video clip) United States: Interview with a Memphis teacher, May 2007, who says that the abolition of corporal punishment has failed.United States: PBS TV interview (2011) (6 minutes) with Peter Moskos, who discusses his book advocating flogging as an optional replacement for imprisonment in certain cases. Brunei: school students look at picture supposedly showing the results of a judicial caning, c.2000

Research that I have conducted with others shows this deference to local school districts is common. In our 2018 study on corporal punishment, we found that state bans generally come after local school district bans or reductions in use. United States: pretend paddling of senior student at a high school in Arkansas, posed for jocular effect, c.2005 USA: Perry, Eugene, headmaster of charter school in N. Carolina, accused of assaulting 7-year-old student, 2006 Namibia (or possibly Tanzania), when they were both part of German Africa: judicial pants-down strapping in progress, c.1910 Botswana: Kenosi, Ndaboka, 23, sentenced to caning but went berserk as police were due to carry out the punishment, jailed for 18 months instead, 2007Malaysia: caning of criminal in prison, may be a posed reconstruction but could well be real, c.1980s (for the real thing on film, see video clips) United States, school paddle, provenance unknown, used by Florida TV station to illustrate item about school CP, 2003 Syria/Iraq: Whippings by insurgent forces, including ISIS, who at the time had taken control of parts of both countries. Five films. While corporal punishment remains legal in 19 states, there have been efforts in some of those states to ban the practice. In May of 2021, Louisiana considered such a bill. United States, Tennessee reformatory paddles, and pictures of teen boy inmates who probably received it, 1955

Jamaica: scenes from filmed reconstruction of prison-yard judicial flogging with tamarind switch, 1960s Singapore: TV news broadcast from April 1994 on the vandalism case involving Michael Fay but also, shown speaking here, 17-year-old Andy Shiu Chi Ho, who was to be caned (6 strokes) two months after this appearance. The Vicar at Saint Hugh’s Church used her as an example many times. “If you are not sure what to do, go and see her, she’ll have probably done it before, she’s marvellous!” Five clips from Texas, four of them covering a controversy about male administrators spanking girls, the other from a district where paddling is alive and well and everybody is happy. Jamaica: classroom strapping of girl on hand, undated file picture (possibly posed but might be real)

Jubilee Bunting:

Mrs.Weltwaay put the detention slips into envelopes at the end of the school day. Then with a stern face told them to go home. Sir -- I am very glad your newspaper has brought into the realm of discussion the above subject. I am headmistress of a school, in which there are 175 girls from 8 to 19 years, and I find it necessary to spank on the bare seat for disobedience. Last term I caned a girl of 19 years for giving trouble, and I must say it did her good. How is it brutal to punish in that way? If I hit the girls on the head, or continually nagged at them, I should be the victim of criticism. Your correspondent, "Parent," is very reasonable in her remarks. No amount of criticism will restrain me from inflicting capital [sic] punishment in the way I have done. I detest using the lash, but I have no other alternative. In another Texas district, a paddled boy's mother complains about bruises on her son's bottom. The boy describes his punishment. All the words looked so official, having been typed by the school secretary. And signed by her teacher in ‘Quink’ blue, fountain pen ink.