Corporal Punishment in Missouri

Corporal punishment is a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child. In corporal punishment, the adult usually hits various parts of the child's body with a hand, or with canes, paddles, yardsticks, belts, or other objects expected to cause pain and fear.

• For the 2017-2018 school year, (public) preschool students in Missouri were subjected to corporal punishment 58 times.
• Among non-preschool students, 2461 Missouri students were subjected to corporal punishment in the 2017-2018 school year, a total of 3528 times (meaning that some students experienced corporal punishment more than once).
• A total of 171 schools use corporal punishment, spread out among 91 school districts.
• Of those schools that allow corporal punishment, 91% actually used it in the 2017-2018 school year.

While all students in these districts are subject to corporal punishment, male students, students with disabilities, and black male students are subjected at higher rates.