About Corporal Punishment In School
This case surrounds a 14-year-old 8th grader, James Ingraham. During the morning of Oct 1, 1970 at Drew Junior High School, in Miami, a group of students including Andrew, and Ingraham are beaten by an assistant principal named Solomon Barnes on account of tardiness. On October, 6 of 1970, James ingraham and his classmates are called to the principal's office because of their disruptive behaviors. In the office, the principle Willie J. Wright. paddles eight to ten students. However, as Ingraham refuses to form the paddling position, he is held by other faculty members to take approximately 20 blows. The 20 blows cause Ingraham to stay out of school for 10 days and his mom brings him to the hospital to seek medication, pain-killing pills, and other medicines prescribed by doctors.(oyez,2019) Their parents thus filed a federal suit against the school faculty involved. The suit is based on the deprivation of constitutional rights and the injuries inflicted from the severe corporal punishment by the school faculty. Initially, the District Court dismissed the case, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. After a rehearing on the Fifth Circuit en banc, the Fifth Circuit consents with the District Court’s decision, holding that the school principals and systems do not violate the Eighth Amendment and the students' constitutional rights. (Education Law, 2019)
During the 1970s, people are fighting for their right of equality and corporal punishments are ubiquitous during that time. Schools advocate physical punishment as a way to motivate students for maintaining high standard of behaviors and perform better academically. Corporal punishment has a long tradition and teachers are encourage to employ corporal punishment over students because it’s considered as a fair and rational way to displine school children. The historical significance of Ingraham vs Wright 1977 is it’s confirmation of the Eighth Amendment, and students’ constitutional rights. The Eighth Amendment is made to prevent prisoner getting cruel and unusual punishment, but not made for preventing student to get physical punishment. This case make public schools further determined corporal punishment as a auxilary method to educate students.
ARGUMENTS/AMENDMENTS/RULING
The school faculty should be found guilty because of the following reasons. To begin with, the school teachers and principal do not have sufficient evidence to prove the children’s tardiness. Though a teacher has accused Andrew of tardiness, Andrew claims that he doesn’t; in fact, there are still two minutes before the class starts.(oyez,2019) The teacher and school faculty should present more evidence in court to prove that there is a “probable cause” for the severe punishment. In addition, this event violates the Eighth Amendment, which is using cruel and unusual punishment. The punishment of a certain mistake should be in proportion to the severity of the mistake. Even in criminal law, proportional justice is the doctrine for the judges to follow. It demonstrates the idea that punishment of a certain crime should be proportional to the severity of the crime. (Urofsky, 2019) However, in this case, the severity of the punishment is apparently not proportional to the severity of the mistake. Tardiness is not serious enough to be beaten by a paddle; instead, the teacher can simply give warnings, or give the students suspension. The physical punishment imposed is so severe that causes bruises all over the students’ body, which also shows that the school doesn’t follow the due process. (Oluwole, 2014)
On the other hand, the school faculty should not be charged, and the reasons will be outlined in the following paragraph. First of all, indeed, the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel or unusual punishments inflicted.” (Interactive Constitution, 2019) However, the amendment does not state that the school cannot use corporal punishment as a way to correct students’ disruptive behaviors. Sometimes students are simply too naughty and they need to be punished physically to remember not to make the same mistakes again. Therefore, corporal punishment is necessary so it doesn not violate the constitutional right. Also, Eighth Amendment does not ban physical punishment in schools, because the similar corporal punishment has a long tradition and people have no attempt to eliminate it. The Common Law states that “teachers could legally impose reasonable, non-excessive force on their students.”(oyez,2019) He further points out that the Eighth Amendment was initially used for criminal punishment, not for students in public institutions who should be under the school scrutiny. (Find Law, 2019)
At the beginning, according to the United States’ Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit argued that the punishment is so severe that it has violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment because the corporal punishment fails to satisfy the due process.(Legal Dicitionary, 2018) However, on rehearing en banc court finally rejects the conclusion and decides that the school faculty does not violate the Eighth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment because both do not forbid the use of corporal punishment at school. The U.S. supreme court thus rules that corporal punishment does not violate the Eigth Amendment and the students’ constitutional rights. Ingraham V Wright is a watershed case and has paramount significance in that it establishes that the Supreme Court is not entitled to review schools’ physical punishment policies by using the Eighth Amendment. The ruling validates corporal punishment in public schools, and thus even today in some public schools, physical punishment is still allowed. Therefore, its implication is that the use of corporal punishment does not violate the Eighth Amendment and students’ constituional rights. In addition, the Court rules that the parents and the students being physically punished are not qualified to a formal hearing before corporal punishment is administered. The ruling has made the parents concerned about the corporal punishment in schools more difficult to file suits and go to federal courts for relief. (Study.com, 2019)
