Children develop moral judgment, self-control, responsibility and consideration for others by imitating the good example of the significant adults in their lives. Children are expected to cooperate in the act and usually do. This conditions them to become easy targets for predators who molest or exploit children sexually. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the perpetrators and victims of spousal battery were routinely exposed to corporal punishment when they were children - receiving it, witnessing it or both. The seeds of domestic violence are planted early in the growing season by corporal punishers.
Corporal punishment can cause serious physical damage.
Hitting a child's buttocks can cause injuries to the muscles, the sciatic nerve, pelvis, genitals or spinal column. Hitting a child's hands can injure delicate bones, joints and ligaments resulting in reduced dexterity or permanent impairment. Shaking a child can cause whiplash injury, brain damage, blindness or death. Medical science has long recognized a direct link between violent punishment in early childhood, particularly battering to the buttocks, and the subsequent development of deviant sexual behaviors. Any line of work, including teaching and parenting, that permits persons in authority to inflict pain on others, will attract some people who are mentally disturbed and who enjoy inflicting pain.