Should corporal punishment be allowed?

Corporal violence is never administered evenhandedly

Question: Should corporal punishment be allowed?
Position‹2 of 3›: No, corporal punishment is bad
Argument‹6 of 6: Corporal violence is never administered evenhandedly

A punishment must be immune from societal influences and be administered evenhandedly.

The argument

Due to societal and cultural norms around gender, boys are always on the receiving end of harsher corporal punishments. If a punishment system cannot be administered evenly across all demographics, it should not be used. If a punishment method is adopted that does not punish all offenders evenly, the public will lose trust in the legal system and the rules-based order is undermined.

Context

A legal system can only be effective when the public trusts the system to administer punishment evenhandedly. Corporal punishment is not administered evenhandedly due to societal influences. Therefore, corporal punishment leads to reduced public trust in the legal system.

Premises

[P1]Because of gendered societal and cultural norms, boys consistently receive harsher corporal punishments, so the practice is never applied evenly across all demographics. [P2] A punishment method that cannot be administered evenly erodes public trust in the legal system and undermines the rules-based order. [C] Because corporal violence is never administered evenhandedly, corporal punishment is bad.

Counter-arguments

Corporal punishment is meted out evenly. A study in the US found that 67% of mothers and 68% of fathers slapped or spanked their children as a punishment and there was no apparent gender difference between boys and girls.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Corporal punishment can be administered evenhandedly.