Illinois will become the fifth U.S. state to prohibit corporal punishment in all schools starting in January, following Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s recent signing of a bill.
This new law extends the existing 30-year ban on physical discipline, such as paddling and spanking, from public schools to private schools across the state. With this change, Illinois joins New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland, and New York in fully outlawing corporal punishment in all educational institutions.
State Rep. Margaret Croke, a Chicago Democrat, spearheaded the legislation, motivated by updated guidance from the American Association of Pediatrics, which advocates for ending corporal punishment due to research linking it to behavioral and mental health issues and its disproportionate impact on Black males and students with disabilities.
Croke also pointed to concerns raised by the reinstatement of corporal punishment in Missouri’s Cassville School District, which reintroduced the practice in 2021 as an opt-in choice for parents. Croke emphasized the necessity of sending a clear message that corporal punishment is unacceptable.
Internationally, the World Health Organization condemns corporal punishment as a violation of children’s rights, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has long established a global obligation to prohibit it. However, the U.S. remains the only country that has not ratified this convention.
Although 17 states technically still allow corporal punishment, some, like North Carolina, have banned it in practice. Efforts to enact a federal ban on corporal punishment in schools receiving federal funds, like legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, have stalled in Congress.
The new Illinois law has faced minimal opposition. Private school advocates, typically resistant to state intervention, have responded cautiously. Both the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools and the Catholic Conference of Illinois stated that corporal punishment is not practiced within their member schools. The bill’s provisions also do not extend to home-schooled students.
Nevertheless, the legislation has sparked debate about its implications, with some Republicans raising concerns about potential state overreach into private education. Croke, whose child attends a Catholic school, clarified that the law’s sole intent is to protect students from harm, drawing a firm line against any physical discipline.
