University at Albany, State University of New York Scholars Archive Political Science Honors College 5-2014 Corporal Punishment: An Analysis of the Constitutionality of Domestic Corporal Punishment Brian Junquera University at Albany, State University of New York Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/honorscollege_pos Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Junquera, Brian, "Corporal Punishment: An Analysis of the Constitutionality of Domestic Corporal Punishment" (2014). Political Science. 18. https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/honorscollege_pos/18 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at Scholars Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science by an authorized administrator of Scholars Archive. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Corporal Punishment : An Analysis of the Constitutionality of Domestic Corporal Punishment Abstract: As contemporary society has increasingly recognized the independent rights of children, the acceptability of parental corporal punishment has been increasingly questioned. I argue that in light of modern research on the negative effects of corporal punishment, the New York law that sanctions parental corporal punishment is unconstitutional. In order to make this argument, the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Eighth Amendment protection against “cruel and unusual punishment” is analyzed. Factors used by the Court to determine whether a punishment is “cruel and unusual” are assessed in relation to corporal punishment. Brian Junquera Department of Political Science Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy University at Albany, SUNY Undergraduate Honors Thesis Faculty Adviser: Victor Asal, PhD. Junquera 2 Introduction In 2008 the Supreme Court of Minnesota heard a case involving parental use of corporal punishment in the home.