NY ban on corporal punishment sparks awareness of practice

In October, New York became just the fourth U.S. state to outlaw corporal punishment in private schools, joining New Jersey, Iowa, and Maryland, which passed its own ban earlier this year. The ban brought renewed attention to a practice considered to be archaic by many and troubling to mental health professionals.
In New England, corporal punishment has been barred in public schools since 1989, when Connecticut became the last state in the region to ban the practice. Though it is still allowed in private schools and at home in all New England states, the mental health professionals that New England Psychologist spoke with said the issue rarely comes up in their practices. Yet they expressed concern about its consequences, particularly as ed...