ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author first considers the question of whether corporal punishment is degrading, then whether it is cruel and finally whether it amounts to torture. He argues that all corporal punishment is objectionably degrading and that corporal punishment which inflicts severe pain or suffering is more degrading still. It is in this second sense of 'degrading' that children (and adults) have a right not to be subjected to degrading punishment. He also argues with reference to important accounts of dignity and degradation put forward by Jeffrie Murphy and Avishai Margalit, amongst others, that corporal punishment is unacceptably degrading on account of its insulting and humiliating children. He also considers and reply to some objections raised by David Benatar and others to the claim that corporal punishment unacceptably degrades children. To determine whether corporal punishment is an inherently cruel punishment, we need to define 'cruel punishment'.
