This article analyzes four federal court cases dealing with the use of reductive interventions to manage the behaviors of behaviorally disordered students in public schools. Definitions and principles of corporal punishment, suspension, expulsion, and timeout are outlined; and the legal status of these punishment procedures is explained.…

Discusses the issue of providing adequate legal representation for persons condemned to death. Asks if the rights of a poor capital defendant charged with a capital crime in the South enjoys fewer rights than one in Los Angeles and whether this creates a dual system of justice. Suggests that state action for improvement may be slow in coming. (KO)

Interviewed mothers about spanking infants and toddlers to determine beliefs and practice and relationships between factors affecting these beliefs and practices. Found that context of the spanking affects spanking beliefs and practice and that beliefs about spanking rather than impulse largely explain the prevalence of spanking for children under…

Analysis of observations of 70 adults making public verbal threats to physically punish or hurt children indicated that adults typically attributed unshared responsibility for group problems to the child and normalized their own aggression by acting as though nothing unusual had happened. The role of the ongoing interaction and the social context…

This family study with parents of 983 college students examined 2 models regarding the intergenerational transmission of corporal punishment. The social learning model asserts that corporal punishment influences aggressive child behavior, whereas the temperament theory suggests that aggressive child behavior impacts parental use of corporal…

Tested hypotheses concerning the relationship between alcohol and homicide from four major theoretical perspectives; specific predictions on the causes of types of homicide were also derived. Findings revealed that alcohol consumption rates change the way important predictors, such as poverty and deterrence, are related to specific types of…

This paper reviews the efficacy of aversive interventions in the treatment of individuals with developmental disabilities. It also considers the ethical and legal issues involved and concludes that there is empirical, ethical, and legal support for the continued availability of aversive interventions as treatment options if sufficient safeguards…

The comment on a paper about the use of aversive interventions with developmentally disabled persons (EC 602 022) questions the effectiveness of aversive interventions and suggests effective nonaversive or less aversive interventions can usually be found. (DB)

A nationwide survey of teachers (568 responses) from 40 school districts found that, although the majority of teachers confront child abuse among their students, they are provided insufficient education on how to address it. Other findings concerned teachers' reporting behavior, barriers to reporting, child assault prevention programs, and…

A total of 76 children, ages 3 through 5, were asked to evaluate how preschool teachers should intervene in children's social and moral transgressions. Older preschoolers preferred explicit teacher explanations over punishment or nonintervention, whereas all preferred punishment over nonintervention. Younger girls preferred explanations for moral…

A case of suspected scholarly plagiarism by Charles P. Gallmeier is reported and used to illustrate issues in plagiarism, including the definition of plagiarism, the role of motive in defining plagiarism, the appropriate investigative body, appropriate due process and punishment, and the academic community's responsibility to inform members of…

Evaluates theories that explain the origins of conduct disorder and the evidence supporting them. Evidence is interpreted as demonstrating the primacy of the child's contribution to conduct disorder within a reciprocal parent-child interactive system, and thus corroborating control systems theory. Citations number 106. (RH)

Two studies examined parent expectations and punishments of mature-faced children as compared to their baby-faced peers. Study 1 revealed that parents allocated more cognitively demanding chores to mature-faced 11 year olds depicted in photographs than to baby-faced children. Study 2 revealed that parents perceived misbehaviors of mature-faced…

Structural equation modeling analysis of 349 youths, aged 9-16, in St. Kitts, West Indies, showed that physical punishment by itself does make a modest, but significant, direct and negative contribution to youths' psychological adjustment. Children tended to experience themselves to be rejected in direct proportion to the frequency and severity of…

Compares 1986 and 1991 surveys of discipline trends and practices among rural teachers in southwestern Ohio. Major changes include increased perceptions that the school board or superintendent determines discipline plans and decreased endorsements of corporal punishment. (LP)