Sweden was the first country in the world to ban all corporal punishment of children. In 1979, the Swedish Parliament voted to prohibit corporal punishment, or the "right" of parents/ caretakers to chastise their children. Swedish Member of Parliament Sixten Pettersson stated "In a free democracy like our own, we use words as arguments, not blows. We talk to people and do not beat them. If we can't convince our children with words, we shall never convince them with violence". Today Corporal punishment of children by their parents/ caretakers is not legal in all Nordic countries. Nordic societies agree that children are better educated with words than with violence.

In the United States corporal punishment of children in school is legal in twenty-two states, and "reasonable" corporal punishment of children by their parents/caretakers is legal in every state except Minnesota (Bitensky, 1998). Prohibition of corporal punishment in family day care, group homes/institutions, child care centers, and family foster care varies according to state laws (EPOCH-USA, 1999b).

Listed below is the legal language used to define corporal punishment. One has to question what