Fines Not Imprisonment

by Felix A
(Aurora, Colorado)

I am currently taking an English class at Community college of Aurora, Colorado, where I wrote a research paper titled "Parents that Chastise their Children should be Fined and not face Imprisonment".

Child abuse originates from a commonly accepted norm, spanking. Parents initially spank their children to promote good behavior, but it tends to harm the child in the long run, especially if it is practiced frequently.

The strange fact is that most states in the United States, spanking is not counted as child abuse, except if there is evidence of physical marks on the child, even though there is evidence that that spanking rapidly leads to child abuse.

My paper proposed that parents who spank their kids should be fined when evidence of physical violence is obvious, as separating children from their parents also has negative impacts, such as poor mental health and delinquent/criminal behavior, aggressive behavior, and anti-social behavior/anxieties. There is substantial evidence from research that people tend to comply with laws and regulations only when they are aware of how they will be penalized. Thus, parents will shift away from spanking as a way of promoting good behavior from their children when there are laws that penalize them with fines. Moreover, since spanking is mostly associated with low-income families, this will also motivate the assailants to avoid physical violence on their victim, as they would not be able to accord the imposed fines.