Nationwide — A video of a father beating his 12-year old daughter after he allegedly caught her having sex has gone viral after it was posted on Twitter and Instagram last week. It has sparked debates on whether or not it is appropriate to beat children with a belt.
The video, which originally appeared on Twitter, was also posted on V-103 Atlanta’s Instagram page where it was already viewed over 67,000 times. There were also more than 6,000 comments of some agreeing and others disagreeing with the father’s rather harsh punishment.
While about 60 countries have already made corporal punishment illegal, it is still legal in the United States. Most states even lack a definitive standard on the difference between punishment and abuse.
Moreover, a study by the University of Texas at Austin that was published by Journal of Family Psychology Vol 30(4), Jun 2016 found that there was no evidence linking spanking to improved child behavior. It instead revealed that there could be an increased risk of 13 detrimental outcomes due to spanking.