Florida public schools still spank kids

In 2012, there are still places in America where an adult can legally beat a child with a paddle for acting like, well, a child. Florida is one of 19 states that still allow public schools to paddle children. Most districts have opted out of the practice of arbitrary physical discipline of minors, but many in the state's rural north defend the practice, and a bill introduced in 2011 to stop it never made it to committee in the Florida legislature. This despite longtime research showing that paddling and corporal punishment often don't deter misbehavior.

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