corporal punishment

In September 1976 Jeffrey, aged 16, took a short cut home from his school in Scotland through a nearby cemetery. This was against school rules and Jeffrey was reported to the head, who decided that he should be punished with the strap. The boy refused. He was supported by his parents, who said that they thought corporal punishment was morally wrong. Jeffrey was suspended.

Both the school and the local authority suggested various ways in which he might be allowed back – but could not promise that Jeffrey would never be beaten for misbehaviour. Jeffrey’s parents would not agree to this. They claimed that the local authority were breaking part of the European Convention on Human Rights, which says that no one shall be denied the right to education and that parents have the right to make sure that their children are taught in a way that respects their religious and philosophical beliefs.

When the case eventually reached the European Court of Human Rights in 1982, the Court agreed with Jeffrey’s mother, who had made the application. As a result, the British government had to change the law on corporal punishment in schools. This took some time to achieve, but corporal punishment was eventually abolished in most UK schools in 1987.