The message from research is very clear: corporal punishment carries multiple risks of harm and has no benefits.

Corporal punishment is a violation of children’s rights and international human rights law requires prohibition and elimination of all corporal punishment, including in the family home.

Research can powerfully illuminate and support advocacy on the issue, and the evidence is now overwhelming – more than 300 studies over 50 years involving 100,000s of children show associations between corporal punishment and a wide range of negative outcomes, while no studies have found evidence of any benefits. 

Evidence from research also illustrates how corporal punishment violates not just children’s right to freedom from all violence, but also their rights to health, development and education, and has damaging effects on society as well as individuals. It supports arguments that the prohibition and elimination of corporal punishment is a low-cost effective public health measure, for example in the prevention of domestic violence, mental illness and antisocial behaviour and to support welfare, education and developmental outcomes for children.

The information in this summary is taken from End Corporal Punishment’s longer working paper that examines corporal punishment’s impacts and associations in greater depth. You can read more about the research on any of the topics covered in this summary in our 31-page full working paper.

Find out more about research on corporal punishment here.