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Judicial corporal punishment

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21 countries that still have judicial corporal punishment today

Illustration from Nell in Bridewell depicting a prison whipping in 19th century Germany.

Vintage drawing of a judicial whipping at a post.

A boy offender is restrained and punished over a birching horse.

Judicial corporal punishment is corporal punishment of convicted criminals. It was common in many cultures throughout history since antiquity. In the 19th and 20th century, practically all industrialized countries abolished judicial corporal punishment; places where it is still common today (as of 2006) include Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Southeast Asian nations. In Islamic countries, judicial corporal punishment is usually based on and regulated by Sharia law.

1 Description
2 See also
3 Links on Corporal Punishment Research
4 Photo links

[edit] Description

Judicial corporal punishment is generally nonconsensual and therefore quite different from consensual forms of adult corporal punishment such as erotic spanking, BDSM or domestic discipline.

Most judicial corporal punishment consists/consisted of whipping, birching or caning the delinquent on his/her bared back and/or buttocks. In some cultures beating of the feet (bastinado) was also used. The delinquent is/was usually restrained because judicial corporal punishment is so severe that the delinquent, even if co-operative, would not be able to keep in position without restraints. Today, often the law requires a physician to be present who can abort the whipping/caning when the health or life of the delinquent appears to be in danger.

A (possibly outdated and/or incomplete list) of 21 countries that still have judicial corporal punishment today is:

(*) According to a report by Amnesty International in the 1990s
(**) According to other sources (Time Magazine etc.), 1998

From antiquity throught the middle ages (and in some places later) judicially imposed torture was also used as a form of punishment.

Most people in countries that have abolished judicial corporal punishment today reject the concept of judicial corporal punishment because it violates human rights. Others feel that re-introducing judicial corporal punishment might be beneficial for society as it is a more deterring (and therefore, more effective) form of punishment than, for example, fines. Besides, it allows the offender to "pay" for his guilt without having to pay for it financially - which, in effect, makes punishment fairer to society as a whole as it punishes rich and poor offenders the same.

A comprehensive online resource with well-researched information on judicial and other forms of factual corporal punishment is World Corporal Punishment Research ([1]) by Colin Farrell.