Something to Cry About: An Argument Against Corporal Punishment of Children in Canada

Michael Ungar is an associate professor at the Maritime School of Social
Work, Dalhousie University, and a marriage and family therapist
specializing in work with high-risk youth. His upcoming book is titled
Playing at Being Bad: The Hidden Resilience of

If a caregiver is close enough to a child to physically abuse that
child, Susan Turner argues, then the caregiver is also close enough to
employ alternatives such as restraint or verbal correction. In this
book, she builds a persuasive case for the end of corporal punishment of
children. In particular, she argues for the need to repeal section 43 of
the Canadian Criminal Code, which gives special protection to caregivers
of children who use physical force during the normal course of their
duties.

Something to Cry About offers a detailed critique of the philosophical
and moral arguments that have been used over the centuries to justify
physical aggression against children. While Turner avoids detailing the
effects of physical punishment (psychological and otherwise), she does
present support for work by other authors, including David Archard, who
has proposed a modest collectivism that would allow the state to
intervene in the parent–child relationship. Turner’s position is
clear: children are at greater risk of abuse when exclusively under the
control of their parents or other caregivers (and especially when the
adult can use physical punishment with impunity). Her book will be of
interest to policymakers, academics, and those who wish to understand
how we arrived at our tolerance for this kind of abuse.