A review of the literature on corporal punishment in The Bahamas, with an emphasis on its use in schools

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v26i0.353

Keywords:

Literature review, Corporal punishment, Bahamian education system

Abstract

This review of the literature concerning corporal punishment arising from The Bahamas enables us to identify several strands: (1) corporal punishment is an historically accepted method of controlling children which only recently has been called into question; (2) school teachers have typically seen corporal punishment as a useful classroom management tool; (3) there has been unease about its use in schools which has resulted in its regulation; (4) more recently, there has been evidence of the awareness of the long-term negative effects of corporal punishment; and (5) the rise of social media has made corporal punishment and its potential abuses visible to a wider audience. These strands appear to have woven together to move the country in a direction of outlawing corporal punishment, at least in schools.

Author Biographies

William J. Fielding, University of The Bahamas

Institutional Strengthening & Accreditation

Virginia C. Ballance, University of The Bahamas

Librarian IV

References

Adderley, M. (2019, May 2). Teacher in beating video broke rules. The Tribune, http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/may/03/teacher-beating-video-broke-rules/

Adderley, P. L. (197?). The problem of discipline in schools in New Providence [transcript of a speech]. S.n.

Bahamas. Dept. of Education. (2009). Safe schools protocol: Manual for public schools. (4th revision). Retrieved from https://dloc.com/AA00068560/00001

Bahamas. Ministry of Education. (1992). Code of student conduct.

Ballance, V. C. F. (2008). Bahamas, Commonwealth of. In C. E. D’Avanzo (Ed.), Pocket guide to cultural health assessment (4th ed., pp. 48-52). Mosby Elsevier.

Barnett, B. W. (1979). A comparative study of the attitudes of teachers and students toward disciplinary procedures in selected schools in New Providence. (Unpublished B.Ed. thesis). University of the West Indies, Nassau.

Bethell, K., Allen, D., & Carroll, M. A. (2015). Using a supportive community group process to cope with the trauma of social fragmentation and promote re-socialization in the Bahamas. Emergency Medicine: Open Access, 5(244), 2-6. https://doi.org/10.4172/2165-7548.1000244

Brennen, S., Fielding, W. J., Carroll, M. C., McCants-Miller, J. C., Adderley, L., & Thompson, M. A. (2016). A preliminary investigation of the prevalence of corporal punishment of children and selected co-occurring behaviours in households on New Providence, The Bahamas. In W. J. Fielding, V. C. F. Ballance, & I. G. Strachan (Eds.), Violence in the Bahamas (pp. 63-78). University of the Bahamas.

Brown, K. (2019, June 12). Lloyd addresses corporal punishment in schools. The Nassau Guardian, https://thenassauguardian.com/2019/06/12/lloyd-addresses-corporal-punishment-in-schools/

Carroll, M. A., Fielding, W. J., Brennen, S., & Hutcheson, S. P. (2016). Rearing violence: Violence toward children at home. In W. J. Fielding, V. C. F. Ballance, & I. G. Strachan (Eds.), Violence in the Bahamas (pp. 31-62). University of the Bahamas.

Cartwright, A. R. (1986). A comparison of the causes of discipline problems perceived by a random sample of male and female government and private junior high school teachers in New Providence. (Unpublished B.Ed. thesis). University of the West Indies, Nassau.

Collie-Patterson, J. M. (2008). The national average is D: Who is to blame? The College of The Bahamas Research Journal, 14; 28-37. https://doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v14i0.102

Corporal Punishment. (2019, June 3). Belts will leave a mark but that is not abuse [Letter to the Editor]. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/jun/03/belts-will-leave-mark-not-abuse/

Curry, C., & Ulentin, A. (2019). From punishment to rehabilitation: An historical overview of incarceration in The Bahamas. In W. Fielding, V. Ballance, P. Smith, A., Veyrat-Pontet, & H. Sutton (Eds.) Our prisoners: A collection of papers arising from a 2016 survey of inmates at The Bahamas Department of Correctional Services facility at Fox Hill (pp. 3-20). Inter-American Development Bank. https://doi.org/10.18235/0001593

Early Childhood Care Act (2004) and Early Childhood Care (National Standards) Regulations 2015 (Bahamas). https://www.cavehill.uwi.edu//LAWLIBRARY/getattachment/85786aa5-589b-48e8-84e1-78f986ce414a/EARLY-CHILDHOOD-CARE-ACT.aspx

Elgar, F. J., Donnelly, P. D., Michaelson, V., Gariépy, G., Riehm, K. E., Walsh, S. D., & Pickett, W. (2018). Corporal punishment bans and physical fighting in adolescents: an ecological study of 88 countries. BMJ open, 8(9), e021616.https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-021616

Fielding, W. J. (2015). Where the sexes differ: crime, violence but not the economy. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335055371_Where_the_sexes_differ_crime_violence_but_not_the_economy

Fielding, W. J. (2016). Violence in the life of an inmate prior to conviction. In W. J. Fielding, V. C. F. Ballance, & I. G. Strachan (Eds.), Violence in the Bahamas (pp. 205-220). University of the Bahamas.

Fielding, W. J., & Ballance, V. C. (2019). Learning gender-based attitudes in The Bahamas. International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 25, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v25i0.339

Fielding, W. J., & Johnson, P. (2019). Do teachers influence high school students’ creativity? The experience of University students in The Bahamas. International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 25, 16-32. https://doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v25i0.341

Fielding, W. J., Risley-Curtiss, C., & Cronin, T. W. (2015). A cross-cultural comparison of interpersonal violence in the lives of college students from two colleges from The Bahamas and United States of America. International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 21(1), 38-56. https://doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v21i1.230

Gershoff, E. T. (2010). More harm than good: A summary of scientific research on the intended and unintended effects of corporal punishment on children. Law & Contemporary Problems, 73, 31-56. https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/lcp73&div=18&id=&page=

Gershoff, E. T., Goodman, G. S., Miller-Perrin, C. L., Holden, G. W., Jackson, Y., & Kazdin, A. E. (2018). The strength of the causal evidence against physical punishment of children and its implications for parents, psychologists, and policymakers. American Psychologist, 73(5), 626–638. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000327

Hanna, C. A. (2017). Solutions to the murder problem. National Anti-Drug Secretariat, Ministry of National Security. Retrieved from https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00061956/00001

Johnson, P. (2016). Violence in school. In W. J. Fielding, V. C. F. Ballance, & I. G. Strachan (Eds.), Violence in the Bahamas (pp. 113-133). University of the Bahamas.

Johnson, P, (2019). Educational attainment and crime. In W. Fielding, V. Ballance, P. Smith, A., Veyrat-Pontet, & H. Sutton (Eds.) Our prisoners: A collection of papers arising from a 2016 survey of inmates at The Bahamas Department of Correctional Services facility at Fox Hill (pp. 77-87). Inter-American Development Bank. https://doi.org/10.18235/0001593

Knowles, L. A. M. (1999). Impact of physical abuse on the psychological and behavioural state of institutionalised children in the Bahamas and Jamaica (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. http://uwispace.sta.uwi.edu/dspace/handle/2139/2346

Lansford, J. E., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., Bates, J. E., Crozier, J., & Kaplow, J. (2002). A 12-year prospective study of the long-term effects of early child physical maltreatment on psychological, behavioral, and academic problems in adolescence. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 156(8), 824-830. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.156.8.824

Lofquist, W. S. (2010). Identifying the condemned: Reconstructing and analyzing the history of executions in The Bahamas. International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 16, 19-34. https//doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v16i0.125

Minnis, J., Symonette, E., Stevenson, M., Pintard-Newry, Y., & Gibson, T. (2016). Who is in prison? In W. J. Fielding, V. C. F. Ballance, & I. G. Strachan (Eds.), Violence in the Bahamas (pp. 181-204). Nassau: University of the Bahamas.

Minnis, K. (2008, August 21). Is sparing the rod spoiling the child? Nassau Guardian, p. REL1.

Moxey, E. G. (1980). An investigation into administrators' and teachers' perception of the use of punishment in junior high schools in New Providence. (Unpublished B.Ed. thesis). University of the West Indies, Nassau.

Nicolls, D., Russell-Smith, C., Dean-Patterson, S., Deveaux-Stuart, L. D., Gibson-Mobley, I., Williams, E. J, Pinder-Darling, A., & Fielding, W. J. (2014). Attitudes of high school students regarding intimate relationships and gender norms in New Providence, The Bahamas. International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 20(1), 38-51. https://doi.org/ 10.15362/ijbs.v20i1.225

Otterbein, C. S., & Otterbein, K. F. (1973). Believers and beaters: A case study of supernatural beliefs and child rearing in the Bahama Islands. American Anthropologist, 75(5), 1670-1681. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1973.75.5.02a00290

Popcak, G. K. (n.d.) Ten reasons I can’t spank. A Catholic counselor’s critical examination of corporal punishment. In Bell, D. N. (n.d.). A Christian perspective on corporal punishment. https://nospank.net/popcak.htm

Rolle, R. R. (1982). Disciplinary practices in Bahamian public high schools. (Unpublished B.Ed. thesis). University of the West Indies, Nassau.

Roth, R. M., Abecassis, M., Isquith, P. K., & Fielding, W. J. (2020, February 5-8). Corporal punishment in childhood is associated with self-rated executive functions in Bahamian college students. Poster session to be presented at the meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society Meeting, Denver, Colorado.

Smith, A. T. (1979). An investigation into the use of corporal punishment in senior high schools in New Providence and an examination of the advantages and disadvantages on tenth graders. (Unpublished B.Ed. thesis). University of the West Indies, Nassau.

Smith, D. E., & Mosby, G. (2003). Jamaican child-rearing practices: The role of corporal punishment. Adolescence, 38(150), 369-381.

Sutton, H., & Álvarez, L. (2016). How safe are Caribbean homes for women and children? Attitudes toward intimate partner violence and corporal punishment. Inter-American Development Bank. https://publications.iadb.org/en/publication/12617/how-safe-are-caribbean-homes-women-and-children-attitudes-toward-intimate-partner

Sutton, H., & Ruprah, I. (2017). Restoring paradise in the Caribbean. Combatting violence with numbers. Inter-American Development Bank. https://publications.iadb.org/bitstream/handle/11319/8262/Restoring-Paradise-in-the-Caribbean-Combatting-Violence-With-Numbers.PDF?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Vanderbilt University. (2014). Latin America Public Opinion Project: The Bahamas. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/bahamas.php

________________________________________

Reports of corporal punishment in the Bahamian press: a selection

Adderley, M. (2018, May 11). Whipped, beaten and filmed for Facebook. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2018/may/10/whipped-beaten-and-filmed-facebook/

Adderley, M. (2019, May 2). Teacher in beating video broke rules. The Tribune, http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/may/03/teacher-beating-video-broke-rules/

Brown, K. (2019, June 12). Lloyd addresses corporal punishment in schools. The Nassau Guardian, https://thenassauguardian.com/2019/06/12/lloyd-addresses-corporal-punishment-in-schools/

Corporal Punishment. (2019, June 3). Belts will leave a mark but that is not abuse [Letter to the Editor]. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/jun/03/belts-will-leave-mark-not-abuse/

Disturbed and Deeply Concerned. (2019, June 5). Beating children is our sport [Letter to the Editor} The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/jun/05/beating-children-our-sport/

Jones, R. (2019, June 13). Lloyd: Society must decide way forward on corporal punishment. Eyewitness News. https://ewnews.com/lloyd-society-must-decide-way-forward-on-corporal-punishment

McKenzie, N. (2008, August 7). Baby-sitter fined for spanking infant. The Tribune. p. 3. https://dloc.com/UF00084249/01094/3j?search=tribune

Minnis, K. (2008, August 21). Is sparing the rod spoiling the child?

Nassau Guardian, p. REL1.

Rolle, R. (2019, December 16). Lloyd appalled by support for beating. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/dec/16/lloyd-appalled-support-beating/

Rolle, R. (2018, March 5). School beatings must be very last resort. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2018/mar/05/school-beatings-must-be-very-last-resort/

Russell, K. (2019, June 13). Social media danger must be addressed. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/jun/13/social-media-danger-must-be-addressed/

Scavella, N. (2016, November 2). Officer who struck fighting students ‘was performing his duty’. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2016/nov/02/officer-who-struck-fighting-students-was-performin/

Smith, S. (2018, October 26). Bahamians urged to move beyond corporal punishment. The Nassau Guardian. https://thenassauguardian.com/2018/10/26/bahamas-urged-to-advance-beyond-corporal-punishment/

Strachan, M. (2019, June 17). Insight: The grey area of corporal punishment in schools may have made one administrator a sacrificial lamb. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/jun/17/insight-grey-area-corporal-punishment-schools-may-/

Study: Corporal punishment of children promoting culture of violence in region. (2011, November 18). The Nassau Guardian. https://thenassauguardian.com/2011/11/18/study-corporal-punishment-of-children-promoting-culture-of-violence-in-region/

Turnquest, A. (2018, February 27). It's time to stop school beatings. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2018/feb/28/its-time-stop-school-beatings/

Turnquest, A. (2018, September 7). Student beating: Police investigate. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2018/sep/07/students-beating-police-investigate/

Turnquest, A. (2019, May 30). Father's fury as son comes home from school 'black and blue'. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/may/30/fathers-fury-son-comes-home-school-black-and-blue/

Wallace, A. (2019, April 3). Schools have to get in the fight to protect our students. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/apr/03/alicia-wallace-column-schools-have-get-fight-prote/

Wells, R. (2019, April 4). Lloyd waiting on beating report. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/apr/04/lloyd-waiting-beating-report/

Wells, R. (2019, March 28). Out of order: Ministry probes teacher filmed beating students. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/mar/29/out-order-ministry-probes-teacher-filmed-beating-s/

Wells, R. (2019, June 4). Bishop urges amicable solution to beating row. The Tribune. http://www.tribune242.com/news/2019/jun/04/bishop-urges-amicable-solution-beating-row/

Downloads

Published

2020-10-23