Caning is used as a form of judicial corporal punishment in Brunei. This practice is heavily influenced by Brunei's history as a British protectorate from 1888 to 1984. Similar forms of corporal punishment are also used in two of Brunei's neighbouring countries, Singapore and Malaysia, which are themselves former British colonies.
The courts routinely sentence adult male criminals to caning for a
wide range of offences similar to those punishable by caning in
Malaysia. It is usually, or possibly always, ordered in addition to
a prison sentence. In the case of juvenile male offenders, however,
caning is sometimes ordered as a single punishment without the prison
term. The procedure is generally similar to that in Singapore and
Malaysia.
Judicial caning
Sections
257–260 of Brunei's Criminal Procedure Code lay down the procedures
governing caning, which is referred to as "whipping" in the Code in
accordance with traditional British legislative terminology. The
procedures include the following:
Women, men above the age of 50, and men sentenced to death cannot be sentenced to caning.
The offender cannot be sentenced to more than 24 strokes of the cane
in a single trial. In the case of a juvenile offender, the number of
strokes is capped at 18.
The rattan cane used shall not be more than 0.5 inches (1.27 cm) in diameter.
In the case of a juvenile offender, the caning is inflicted in the way of school discipline using a light rattan cane.
A medical officer or hospital assistant is required to certify that
the offender is in a fit state of health to undergo the punishment.
If the medical officer or hospital assistant certifies that the
offender is not in a fit state of health to be caned, the offender will
be sent back to the court for the caning sentence to be remitted or
converted to a prison term of up to 12 months, in addition to the
original prison term he was sentenced to.
Under Bruneian criminal law, offences punishable by caning include
causing hurt, assault, kidnapping, rape, theft, robbery, extortion, and
trespassing. It is a mandatory punishment for certain offences such as
rape, kidnapping, and overstaying one's visa. Approximately 100 caning sentences are passed down every year in Brunei. In 2007, 68 foreign workers were sentenced to caning for immigration offences.
The modus operandi of judicial caning in Brunei appears to
resemble that in Singapore more than that in Malaysia. It is not
inflicted in instalments.
During the punishment, the offender is tied to a wooden frame in a
bent-over position with his feet together, and receives strokes from the
rattan cane on the bare buttocks.
The effects of caning, which include severe physical damage and
permanent scarring, are generally the same across all the three
countries.
News reports from Brunei show that the Prison Department, from
time to time, brings students on prison tours or hold talks in their
schools to educate them on crime. During such visits, prison officials
conduct demonstrations of caning on dummies.
Comparison of judicial caning in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore
Judicial caning is also used as a form of legal punishment for
criminal offences in two of Brunei's neighbouring countries, Malaysia
and Singapore. There are some differences across the three countries.
Brunei
Malaysia
Singapore
Sharia caning
Yes
Yes
No
Juveniles
Local courts may order the caning of boys below the age of 16.
Local courts may order the caning of boys below the age of 16.
Only the High Court may order the caning of boys below the age of 16.
Age limit
Men above the age of 50 cannot be sentenced to caning.
Men above the age of 50 cannot be sentenced to caning. However, the
law was amended in 2006 such that men convicted of sex offences may
still be sentenced to caning even if they are above the age of 50. In
2008, a 56-year-old man was sentenced to 57 years jail and 12 strokes of
the cane for rape.
Men above the age of 50 cannot be sentenced to caning.
Maximum no. of strokes per trial
24 strokes for adults; 18 strokes for juveniles
24 strokes for adults; 10 strokes for juveniles
24 strokes for adults; 10 strokes for juveniles
Terminology
The official term is whipping in accordance with traditional British legislative terminology.
The official term is whipping in accordance with traditional British legislative terminology. Informally, caning, as well as strokes of the cane and strokes of the rotan
In both legislation and press reports, the term is caning
Dimensions of the cane
About 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long and no more than 1.27 cm (0.5 in) in diameter
About 1.09 m (3.6 ft) long and no more than 1.25 cm (0.49 in) in diameter
About 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long and no more than 1.27 cm (0.5 in) in diameter
Type of cane
The same type of rattan cane is used on all offenders regardless of the offence committed.
Two types of rattan canes are used: The smaller one is for white-collar offenders while the larger one is for other offenders.
The same type of rattan cane is used on all offenders regardless of the offence committed.
Modus operandi
The offender is tied to a wooden frame in a bent-over position with his feet together.
The offender stands upright at the A-shaped frame with his feet
apart and hands tied above his head. He has a special protective
"shield" tied around his lower body to cover the lower back and upper
thighs while leaving the buttocks exposed.
The offender is tied to the trestle in a bent-over position with his
feet together. He has protective padding secured around his lower back
to protect the kidney and lower spine area from strokes that land
off-target.
Caning under sharia law
In 2014, the Sultan of Brunei advocated the adoption of a sharia (spelt as syariah in Bahasa Melayu Brunei)
penal code, which included lashes for certain offences. In February
that year, an 18-member Bruneian delegation visited Saudi Arabia to
learn about the implementation of the sharia penal code. The sharia penal code is currently in place in Brunei.
There was a broad international outcry when Brunei became the first country in the region to adopt sharia law in 2014. A new law which comes into effect from 3 April 2019 will punish homosexual sexual practices and adultery with death by stoning. Theft will be punished with amputation.
Reformatory corporal punishment
Juvenile
male offenders in reformatory institutions may be punished by "whipping
with a light cane" for serious breaches of discipline. The maximum
number of strokes allowed is ten if the offender is above 14, and six if
the offender is 14 and below. A medical officer is required to be
present to supervise the punishment.
International criticism
Amnesty International
considers Brunei's practice of judicial caning a form of torture, and
points out that the sharia penal code contains provisions that violate
human rights. However, Brunei has not ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture.
In May 2013, Brunei elicited strong criticisms from internet users in
Thailand after it sentenced two Thai nationals to imprisonment and three
strokes of the cane each for overstaying their visa.
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits (known as "strokes" or "cuts") with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks (see spanking) or hand(s) (on the palm). Caning on the knuckles or shoulders is much less common. Caning can also be applied to the soles of the feet (foot whipping or bastinado).
The size and flexibility of the cane and the mode of application, as
well as the number of the strokes, vary greatly — from a couple of light
strokes with a small cane across the seat of a junior schoolboy's
trousers, to a maximum of 24, very hard, wounding cuts on the bare
buttocks with a large, heavy, soaked rattan as a judicial punishment in
some Southeast Asian countries.
Flagellation was so common in England as punishment (see below) that caning (and spanking and whipping) are called "the English vice".
Caning can also be done consensually as a part of BDSM.
The thin cane generally used for corporal punishment is not to be confused with a walking stick, which is sometimes also called a cane (especially in American English), but is thicker and much more rigid, and likely to be made of stronger wood.
Scope of use
Caning was a common form of judicial punishment and official school discipline in many parts of the world in the 19th and 20th centuries. Corporal punishment (with a cane or any other implement) has now been outlawed in much, but not all, of Europe.
However, caning remains legal in numerous other countries in home,
school, religious, judicial or military contexts, and is also in common
use in some countries where it is no longer legal.
A display of rattan judicial canes from the Johor Bahru Prison museum, Malaysia.
Judicial caning, administered with a long, heavy rattan and much more severe than the canings given in schools, was/is a feature of some Britishcolonial
judicial systems, though the cane was never used judicially in Britain
itself (the specified implements there, until abolition in 1948, being
the birch and the cat-o'-nine-tails). In some countries caning is still in use in the post-independence era, particularly in Southeast Asia (where it is now being used far more than it was under British rule), and in some African countries.
The practice is retained, for male offenders only, under the criminal law in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
(In Malaysia there is also a separate system of religious courts for
Muslims only, which can order a much milder form of caning for women as
well as men.) Caning in Indonesia is a recent introduction, in the special case of Aceh, on Sumatra, which since its 2005 autonomy has introduced a form of sharia law for Muslims, as well as non-Muslims since 2014 (male or female), applying the cane to the clothed upper back of the offender.
African countries still using judicial caning include Botswana, Tanzania, Nigeria (mostly in northern states, but few cases have been reported in southern states) and, for juvenile offenders only, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Other countries that used it until the late 20th century, generally only for male offenders, included Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, while some Caribbean countries such as Trinidad and Tobago use birching, another punishment in the British tradition, involving the use of a bundle of branches, not a single cane.
Caning stand and cane formerly used in Hong Kong prisons under British rule
In Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, healthy males under 50 years of age can be sentenced to a maximum of 24 strokes of the rotan (rattan)
cane on the bare buttocks; the punishment is mandatory for many
offences, mostly violent or drug crimes, but also immigration
violations, sexual offences and (in Singapore) acts of vandalism. It is also imposed for certain breaches of prison rules. In Aceh caning can be imposed for adultery. The punishment is applied to foreigners and locals alike.
Two examples of the caning of foreigners which received worldwide media scrutiny are the canings in Singapore in 1994 of Michael P. Fay, an American student who had vandalised several automobiles, and in the United Arab Emirates in 1996 of Sarah Balabagan, a Filipina maid convicted of homicide.
Caning is also used in the Singapore Armed Forces
to punish serious offences against military discipline, especially in
the case of recalcitrant young conscripts. Unlike judicial caning, this
punishment is delivered to the soldier's clothed buttocks.
School corporal punishment
The frequency and severity of caning in educational settings have
varied greatly, often being determined by the written rules or unwritten
traditions of the school. The western educational use of caning dates
principally to the late nineteenth century. It gradually replaced birching-effective
only if applied to the bare bottom, with a form of punishment more
suited to contemporary sensibilities, once it had been discovered that a
flexible rattan cane can provide the offender with a substantial degree
of pain even when delivered through a layer of clothing.
Caning as a school punishment is strongly associated in the English-speaking world with England,
but it was also used in other European countries in earlier times,
notably Scandinavia, Germany and the countries of the former Austrian
empire.
Member states of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
are obliged to "take all appropriate legislative, administrative,
social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of
physical or mental violence, injury or abuse."
Caning in UK Schools
Cane
In
many state and private schools in England and Wales, the rattan cane
was regularly used on both boys and girls, struck either across the
hands, legs, or the clothed buttocks, until 1987.
In some schools, corporal punishment was administered solely by the headmaster, while in others the task was delegated to other teachers.
Elsewhere other implements prevailed, such as the Scottish tawse. The cane was generally administered in a formal ceremony to the seat of the trousers (or skirt),
typically with the student bending over a desk or chair. Usually there
was a maximum of six strokes (known as "six of the best"). Such a caning
would typically leave the offender with uncomfortable weals and bruises
lasting for many days after the immediate intense pain had worn off.
Schoolgirls were caned more rarely than boys.
Caning in all-girls schools were rare but not unseen.
Caning in British state schools in the later 20th century was often, in theory at least, administered by the head teacher only. Canings for primary school
age pupils at state schools in this period could be extremely rare; one
study found that over an eight-year timespan, one head teacher had only
caned two boys in total, but made more frequent use of slippering, while another had caned no pupils at all.
Caning in modern-day schools
A picture showing the marks left on a female student's palm after one stroke of the cane
Caning as a school punishment is still routine in a number of former British territories including Singapore, Malaysia and Zimbabwe. It is also common in some countries where it is technically illegal, including Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea.
Until recently it had also been common in Australia (now banned in public schools except the ACT (Australian Capital Territory), and abolished in practice (though not strictly in theory) by the vast majority of all independent schools), New Zealand (banned from 1990) and South Africa (banned in public and private schools alike from 1996). In the UK, all corporal punishment in private schools was banned in 1999 for England and Wales, 2000 in Scotland, and 2003 in Northern Ireland.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, the Education Ordinance 1957 specifically outlaws the caning of girls in school. However, the caning of girls is rather common. This caning is usually carried out on the palm or clothed bottom. Sometimes, the cane can hit the student's thighs or arms, causing
injury, usually in the form of bruises, bleeding, or obvious welts. Students (both male and female) can even be caned publicly for minor
mistakes like lateness, poor grades, being unable to answer questions
correctly or forgetting to bring a textbook. In November 2007, in response to a perceived increase in indiscipline
among female students, the National Seminar on Education Regulations
(Student Discipline) passed a resolution recommending allowing the
caning of female students at school. The resolution is currently in its consultation process.
Prefectorial caning
In
many English and Commonwealth private schools, authority to punish was
traditionally also given to certain senior students (often called prefects).
In the early 20th century, permission for prefects to cane younger
students (mainly secondary-age boys) was also widespread in British public schools. Some private preparatory schools
relied heavily on "self-government" by prefects for even their youngest
pupils (around eight years old), with caning the standard punishment
for even minor offences.
The perceived advantages of this were to avoid bothering the teaching
staff with minor disciplinary matters, promptness of punishment, and
more effective chastisement, as the impact would be better known in the
culprit's immediate peer group.
Canings from prefects took place for a wide variety of failings,
including lack of enthusiasm in sport, or to enforce youngsters'
participation in character-building aspects of public school life, such
as compulsory cold baths in winter.
Some British private schools still permitted caning to be
administered by prefects in the 1960s, with opportunities for it
provided by complex sets of rules on school uniform and behaviour. In 1969, when the question was raised in Parliament, it was thought that relatively few schools still permitted this.
As early as the 1920s, the tradition of prefects at British
public schools repeatedly caning new boys for trivial offences was
criticised by psychologists as producing "a high state of nervous
excitement" in some of the youngsters subjected to it. It was felt that
granting untrained and unsupervised older adolescents the power to
impose comprehensive thrashings on their younger schoolmates whenever
they chose might have adverse psychological effects.
Like their British counterparts, South African private schools
also gave prefects free rein to administer canings whenever they felt it
appropriate, from at least the late 19th century onwards.
South African schools continued to use the cane to emphasise sporting
priorities well into the late 20th century, caning boys for commonplace
gameplay errors such as being caught offside in an association football match, as well as for poor batting performance in cricket,
not applauding their school team's performance sufficiently, missing
sport practice sessions, or even "to build up team spirit".
The use of corporal punishment within the school setting was prohibited
by the South African Schools Act of 1996. According to Chapter 2
Section 10 of the act, (1) No person may administer corporal punishment at a school to a learner and (2)
Any person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and
liable on conviction to a sentence, which could be imposed for assault.
Reformatory caning
Many approved schools were known for strict discipline, with corporal punishment used where deemed necessary, generally a rather more severe version of the caning or strapping that was common in ordinary secondary schools.
Before the 1933 rules, there was a case where several teenage
girls aged 13 and above were severely tawsed up to 12 strokes on the
seat, with their skirts lifted up.
From 1933 to 1970, the cane was frequently used on boy inmates
and less routinely for girls inmates, at the British youth reformatories
known as approved schools.
Per the Approved School Rules 1933, girls under 15 should be caned only
on the hands; girls of 15 and over were not to be given caning at all.
Boys under 15 could be caned on the hands or the bottom; boys of 15 and
over were to be caned only on the clothed buttocks.
From 1970, approved schools became "Community Homes with Education" under the Children and Young Persons Act 1969. Girls were as a result sometimes to be caned on the buttocks instead of the hands.
In some cases boys or girls of all ages were caned, in spite of a
government recommendation that over-16s should no longer be caned.
The normal maximum number of strokes was eight for boys and girls
of 15 and over, and six for children below that age. Particularly, boys
and girls
who absconded were given a maximum caning of 8 strokes on the clothed
bottom immediately on return to the school, and a 1971 statistical study
found that this could be an effective deterrent.
Caning is still used on inmates of both genders in the equivalent institutions in some countries, such as Singapore and Guyana.
Caning in children's institutes
Corporal punishment at children's homes was less severe. The Administration of Children's Homes Regulations 1951
(S.O. No 1217) provided that children under 10 should be punished only
on their hands either by the headmaster or in his presence and
direction.
Only girls under 10 and boys under the school leaving age (15 at
that time) can be corporally punished. Children under 10 should be
punished only on their hands. A boy over 10 but under 15 could be caned
up to a maximum of six strokes on the clothed posterior.
Domestic corporal punishment
Parents
can cane a child as a punishment for reasons like disobedience or poor
results. This is a common practice in some Asian countries such as
Singapore, China, Malaysia on both boys and girls.
Effects
Caning
with a heavy judicial rattan as used in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei
can leave scars for years if a large number of strokes are inflicted.
Most ordinary canings with a typical light rattan (used at home
or at school for punishing students), although painful at the time,
leave only reddish welts or bruises lasting a few days. Charles Chenevix Trench was caned as a boy at Winchester College
in the early 1930s and later said that "it was, of course,
disagreeable, but left no permanent scars on my personality or my
person".
When caning was still widespread in schools in the United
Kingdom, it was perceived that a caning on the hand carried a greater
risk of injury than a caning on the buttocks; in 1935 an Exeter schoolboy won £1 in damages (equivalent to £68 in 2018), plus his medical expenses, from a schoolmaster, when the county court decided that an abscess that developed on his hand was the result of a caning.
A headmaster's caning of a 13-year-old schoolboy at an English
grammar school in 1987—five strokes for poor exam results—left "severe
bruising", and, according to the family doctor, five separate weals. The
headmaster who gave the punishment was cleared of the offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, with the judge commenting "If you get a beating you must expect it to be with force."
Given
that many fundamental questions in neuroscience are still open, it
seems pertinent to explore whether the brain might use other physical
modalities than the ones that have been discovered so far. In particular
it is well established that neurons can emit photons, which prompts the
question whether these biophotons could serve as signals between
neurons, in addition to the well-known electro-chemical signals. For
such communication to be targeted, the photons would need to travel in
waveguides. Here we show, based on detailed theoretical modeling, that
myelinated axons could serve as photonic waveguides, taking into account
realistic optical imperfections. We propose experiments, both in vivo and in vitro,
to test our hypothesis. We discuss the implications of our results,
including the question whether photons could mediate long-range quantum
entanglement in the brain.
Introduction
The
human brain is a dynamic physical system of unparalleled complexity.
While neuroscience has made great strides, many fundamental questions
are still unanswered, including the processes underlying memory formation, the working principle of anesthesia, and–most fundamentally–the generation of conscious experience.
It therefore seems pertinent to explore whether the brain might
generate, transmit and store information using other physical modalities
than the ones that have been discovered so far.
In the present work we focus on the question whether biophotons could serve as a supplementary information
carrier in the brain in addition to the well established
electro-chemical signals. Biophotons are the quanta of light spanning
the near-UV to near-IR frequency range. They are produced mostly by
electronically excited molecular species in a variety of oxidative
metabolic processes in cells. They may play a role in cell to cell communication, and have been observed in many organisms, including humans, and in different parts of the body, including the brain.
Photons in the brain could serve as ideal candidates for information
transfer. They travel tens of millions of times faster than a typical
electrical neural signal and are not prone to thermal noise at body
temperature owing to their relatively high energies. It is conceivable
that evolution might have found a way to utilize these precious
high-energy resources for information transfer, even if they were just
the by–products of metabolism to begin with. Most of the required
molecular machinery seems to exist in living cells such as neurons. Mitochondrial respiration or lipid oxidation could serve as sources, and centrosomes or chromophores in the mitochondria could serve as detectors.
However,
one crucial element for optical communication is not well established,
namely the existence of physical links to connect all of these spatially
separated agents in a selective way. The only viable way to achieve
targeted optical communication in the dense and (seemingly) disordered
brain environment is for the photons to travel in waveguides.
Mitochondria and microtubules in neurons have been hypothesized to serve
as waveguides. However, these structures are too small and inhomogeneous to guide light efficiently over significant distances.
Here
we propose myelinated axons as potential biophoton waveguides in the
brain, and we support this hypothesis with detailed theoretical
modeling. These axons are tightly wrapped by a lamellar structure called
the myelin sheath, which has a higher refractive index than both the inside of the axon and the interstitial fluid outside (see Fig. 1a).
This compact sheath could therefore also serve as a waveguide, in
addition to increasing the propagation speed of an action potential (via
saltatory conduction) based on its insulating property. There is some indirect experimental evidence for light conduction by axons,
including the observation of increased transmission along the axes of
the white matter tracts, which consist of myelinated axons.
Myelin is formed in the central nervous system (CNS) by a kind of glia
cell called oligodendrocyte. Interestingly, certain glia cells, known as
Müller cells, have been shown to guide light in mammalian eyes.
Figure 1
3-D schematic representation of a segment of a neuron, and an eigenmode of a cylindrical myelinated axon.
(a)
Different parts of a segment of a neuron whose myelinated axon is
sliced longitudinally near the end of the segment. The inset depicts the
cross section in the transverse plane. Here r and r′ are the inner and outer radii of the myelin sheath, d is the thickness of the myelin sheath, and nmy, nax, and next
are the refractive indices of the myelin sheath, the inside of the
axon, and the interstitial fluid outside respectively. The compact
myelin (shown in red) terminates in the paranodal region near the Node
of Ranvier, with each closely apposed layer of myelin ending in a
cytoplasm filled loop (shown in light red). (b) Magnitude of the electric field of a cylindrically symmetric eigenmode (λ = 0.612 μm) of a (cylindrical) myelinated axon, with r = 3 μm, and r′ = 5 μm. (c)
A vector plot of the electric field showing the azimuthal polarization
of the input mode. For clarity in the depiction of the direction of the
field at different points, the arrow length is renormalised to the same
value everywhere. The adjacent color bar depicts the actual field
magnitude. (d,e) Electric field components along the Y (Ey), and Z axes (Ez) respectively.
An
interesting feature of photonic communication channels is that they can
transmit quantum information as well. The potential role of quantum
effects in biological systems is currently being investigated in several
areas, including olfaction, avian magnetoreception, and photosynthesis.
There is also growing speculation about the role of fundamental quantum
features such as superposition and entanglement in certain higher level
brain functions.
Of particular relevance is the “binding problem” of consciousness,
which questions how a single integrated experience arises from the
activities of individual molecules in billions of neurons. The answer to
this question might be provided by quantum entanglement, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts in a well-defined physical and mathematical sense.
The
main challenge in envisioning a “quantum brain” is environmental
decoherence, which destroys quantum effects very rapidly at room
temperature for most physical degrees of freedom. However, nuclear spins can have coherence times of tens of milliseconds in the brain, and much longer times are imaginable. Long-lived nuclear spin entanglement has also been demonstrated in other condensed-matter systems at room temperature. A recent proposal on “quantum cognition”
is based on nuclear spins, but relies on the physical transport of
molecules to carry quantum information, which is very slow. In contrast,
photons are well suited for transmitting quantum information over long
distances, which is why currently envisioned man-made quantum networks
rely on optical communication channels (typically optical fibers)
between spins.
Efficient
light guidance therefore seems necessary for both classical and quantum
optical networks in the brain. Is this possible in myelinated axons
with all their “imperfections” from a waveguide perspective? In an
attempt to answer this question, we have developed a detailed
theoretical model of light guidance in axons. We show in the next
section that the answer seems to be in the affirmative.
Countries as of 2019 that have outlawed all forms of corporal punishment of children.
Campaigns against corporal punishment aim to reduce or eliminate corporal punishment of minors
by instigating legal and cultural changes in the areas where such
punishments are practiced. Such campaigns date mostly from the late
20th century, although occasional voices in opposition to corporal
punishment existed from ancient times through to the modern era.
any punishment in which physical force is used and
intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light. Most
involves hitting ("smacking", "slapping", "spanking") children, with
the hand or with an implement – whip, stick, belt, shoe, wooden spoon,
etc. But it can also involve, for example, kicking, shaking or throwing
children, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears,
forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding
or forced ingestion.
History
Quintilian and Plutarch,
both writing in the 1st century A.D., expressed the opinion that
corporal punishment was demeaning to those who were not slaves, meaning
the children of the freeborn. In contrast, according to the classicist Otto Kiefer, Seneca remarked to his friend Lucilius,
"Fear and love cannot live together. You seem to me to do right in
refusing to be feared by your slaves and chastising them with words
alone. Blows are used to correct brute beasts".
However, according to Robert McCole Wilson, "it is only in the
last two hundred years that there has been a growing body of opinion"
opposed to corporal punishment.
Australia
Jordan Riak began working against corporal punishment when he was residing with his children in Sydney, Australia.
Corporal punishment was eventually banned in the public schools of all
Australian states, and the private schools of all states except Queensland.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, one of the earliest organised campaigns was that of the Humanitarian League, with its regular magazine The Humanitarian,
which campaigned for several years for the abolition of the
chastisement of young seamen in the Royal Navy, a goal partially
achieved in 1906 when naval birching was abandoned as a summary punishment. However, it did not manage to get the Navy to abolish caning as a punishment, which continued at Naval training establishments until 1967.
The Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment (STOPP)
was set up in the U.K. in 1968 to campaign for the abolition of corporal
punishment in UK schools.
STOPP was a very small pressure group that lobbied government,
local authorities and other official institutions. It also investigated
individual cases of corporal punishment and aided families wishing to
pursue their cases through the UK and European courts.
The UK Parliament abolished corporal punishment in state schools in 1986.
STOPP then wound itself up and ceased to exist, though some of the same
individuals went on to form EPOCH to campaign to outlaw spanking, and
spanking in the domestic setting.
Individuals who have directly advocated against corporal punishment include, but are not limited to:
Kirstie Alley (b. 1955) - Actress - has stated her opposition to corporal punishment on numerous occasions, most notably on the Howard Stern Show
Nadine Block - wrote the bill which banned corporal punishment from public schools in Ohio in 2009
Blythe and David Daniel - Professors - advocate and teach children's rights and work for laws against corporal punishment
Blake Hutchison (b. 1980) - writer of Nobody's Property, independent filmmaker and videographer from Ohio who has made several often-controversial children's rights and anti-spanking videos on his YouTube channel. including one titled "Children's Rights Pyrotechnic Practice" where he sets fire to a copy of Michael Pearl's book To Train Up A Child.
Horace Mann - campaigned to ban corporal punishment from schools during the 19th century
Dr. Phil McGraw
(b. 1950) - Television Show Host has had episodes on his show dedicated
to showing the harm and/or ineffectiveness of corporal punishment.
Marcus Lawrence Ward
(1812-1884) - governor of New Jersey from 1866 to 1869, who signed into
law the public and private school corporal punishment ban during his
time in office, which is still in effect today.
Jordan Riak (1935-2016) - drafted the bill which banned corporal punishment from public schools in California in the 1980s
Daniel Vander Ley (b. 1982) - using the BeatYourChildren.com campaign and the "Fundamentalism - America's Premier Child Abuse Brand"
campaign, Vander Ley communicates directly with governments around the
world offering their constituents research about the negative effects of
corporal punishment and religious extremism.
In 2008, the UN Study on Violence against Children set a target date of 2009 for universal prohibition, including in the home, an aim described by The Economist the same year as "wildly unrealistic".
The Society for Prevention of Injuries & Corporal Punishment [SPIC] is an Indian organization advocating measures to stop corporal punishment in schools by making teachers and students aware of its dangers.
A leather cat o' nine tails pictured with a U.S. dollar bill for size comparison. A U.S. dollar bill is about 15 cm (6 in) long, so the total length would be about 75 cm (30 in).
The cat o' nine tails, commonly shortened to the cat, is a type of multi-tailed whip that originated as an implement for severe physical punishment, notably in the Royal Navy and British Army, and also as a judicial punishment in Britain and some other countries.
Etymology
The term first appears in 1681 in reports of a London murder. The term came into wider circulation in 1695 after its mention by a character in William Congreve's play Love for Love, although the design is much older. It was probably so called in reference to its "claws",
which inflict parallel wounds. There are equivalent terms in many
languages, usually strictly translating, and also some analogous terms
referring to a similar instrument's number of tails (cord or leather),
such as the Dutch zevenstaart (seven tail[s]), negenstaart (nine tail[s]), the Spanish gato de nueve colas or the Italian gatto a nove code.
Description
The cat is made up of nine knottedthongs of cottoncord, about 0.8 metres (21⁄2 ft) long, designed to lacerate the skin and cause intense pain.
It traditionally has nine thongs as a result of the manner in which rope is plaited. Thinner rope is made from three strands of yarn
plaited together, and thicker rope from three strands of thinner rope
plaited together. To make a cat o' nine tails, a rope is unravelled into
three small ropes, each of which is unravelled again.
Variations
Variations exist, either named cat (of x tails) or not, such as the whip used on adult Egyptian
prisoners which had a cord on a cudgel branching into seven tails, each
with six knots, used only on adult men, with boys being subject to caning, until Egypt banned the use of the device in 2001.
Sometimes the term "cat" is used incorrectly to describe various other punitive flogging devices with multiple tails in any number, even one made from 80 twigs (so rather a limp birch) to flog a drunk or other offender instead of 80 lashes normally applicable under shariah law. The closed cat, one without tails, was called a starter.
Historical punishments
Naval types and use
The
naval cat, also known as the "captain's daughter" (which in principle
was used under his authority) weighed about 370 grams (13 oz) and was
composed of a handle connected to nine thinner pieces of line, with each
line knotted several times along its length. Formal floggings—those ordered by captain or court martial—were
administered ceremonially on deck, the crew being summoned to "witness
punishment" and the prisoner being brought forward by marines with fixed
bayonets.
Sailor being flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails while four sailors are waiting for their turn to flog him.
During the period of the Napoleonic Wars,
the naval cat's handle was made of rope about 60 cm (2 ft) long and
about 3 cm (1 in) in diameter, and was traditionally covered with red baize cloth. The tails were made of cord about 6 mm (1⁄4 in) in diameter and typically 60 cm (2 ft).
Drunkenness or striking an officer might incur a dozen lashes, which
could be administered on the authority of the ship's captain. Greater
punishments were generally administered following a formal court martial,
with Royal Navy records reflecting some standard penalties of two
hundred lashes for desertion, three hundred for mutiny, and up to five
hundred for theft. The offence of sodomy
generally drew the death penalty, though one eighteenth century court
martial awarded a punishment of one thousand lashes - a roughly
equivalent sentence as there was no likelihood of survival.
A new cat was made for each flogging by a bosun's
mate and kept in a red baize bag until use. If several dozen lashes
were awarded, each could be administered by a fresh bosun's mate—a
left-handed one could be included to assure extra painful crisscrossing
of the wounds. One dozen was usually awarded as a highly sensitizing
prelude to running the gauntlet.
For summary punishment of Royal Navy boys,
a lighter model was made, the reduced cat, also known as boy's cat,
boy's pussy or just pussy, that had only five tails of smooth whip cord.
If formally convicted by a court martial, however, even boys would
suffer the punishment of the adult cat. While adult sailors received
their lashes on the back, they were administered to boys on the bare
posterior, usually while "kissing the gunner's daughter" (bending over a
gun barrel), just as boys' lighter "daily" chastisement was usually
over their (often naked) rear-end (mainly with a cane—this could be
applied to the hand, but captains generally refused such impractical
disablement—or a rope's end). Bare-bottom discipline was a tradition of
the English upper and middle classes, who frequented public schools, so midshipmen
(trainee officers, usually from 'good families', getting a cheaper
equivalent education by enlisting) were not spared, at best sometimes
allowed to receive their lashes inside a cabin. Still, it is reported
that the 'infantile' embarrassment of bare-bottom punishment was
believed essential for optimal deterrence; cocky miscreants might brave
the pain of the adult cat in the macho spirit of "taking it like a man"
or even as a "badge of honour".
On board training ships,
where most of the crew were boys, the cat was never introduced, but
their bare bottoms risked, as in other naval establishments on land,
"the sting of the birch", another favourite in public schools.
Flogging round the fleet
"The
severest form of flogging was a flogging round the fleet. The number of
lashes was divided by the number of ships in port and the offender was
rowed between ships for each ship's company to witness the punishment." Penalties of hundreds of lashes were imposed for the gravest offences, including sedition and mutiny.
The prisoner was rowed around the fleet in an open boat and received a
number of his lashes at each ship in turn, for as long as the surgeon
allowed. Sentences often took months or years to complete, depending on
how much a man was expected to bear at a time. Normally 250–500 lashes
would kill a man, as infections would spread." After the flogging was completed, the sailor's lacerated back was frequently rinsed with brine or seawater, which was thought to serve as a crude antiseptic (although it is now known that seawater contains significant microbial components).
Although the purpose was to control infection, it caused the sailor to
endure additional pain, and gave rise to the expression "rubbing salt
into his wounds", which came to mean vindictively or gratuitously
increasing a punishment or injury already imposed.
British Army
The British Army had a similar multiple whip, though much lighter in construction, made of a drumstick with attached strings. The flogger was usually a drummer rather than a strong bosun's mate. Flogging with the cat o' nine tails fell into disuse around 1870.
Whereas the British naval cat rarely cut (contrary to graphic
films) but rather abraded the skin, the falls (tresses) of the British
Army cat were lighter (around 3.2 mm (1⁄8 in))
and the string was in fact codline - a very dense material akin to
tarred string. Although the total whip would weigh only a fraction of a
naval rope cat, the thin, dense codline tresses were far more likely to
cut the skin.
It was also used elsewhere in the empire, notably at the penal colonies in Australia, and also in Canada (a dominion in 1867) where it was used until 1881. An 1812 drawing
shows a drummer apparently lashing the buttocks of a naked soldier who
is tied with spread legs on an A-frame made from sergeants' half pikes.
In many places, soldiers were generally flogged stripped to the waist.
Prison usage
The cat-o'-nine-tails was also used on adult convicts in prisons; a 1951 memorandum
(possibly confirming earlier practice) ordered all UK male prisons to
use only cat o' nine tails (and birches) from a national stock at Wandsworth
prison, where they were to be 'thoroughly' tested before being supplied
in triplicate to a prison whenever a flogging was pending for use as
prison discipline. In the 20th century, this use was confined to very
serious cases involving violence against a prison officer, and each
flogging had to be confirmed by central government.
Penal colonies in Australia
Especially harsh floggings were given with it in secondary penal colonies of early colonial Australia, particularly at such places as Norfolk Island (apparently this had 9 leather thongs, each with a lead weight, meant as the ultimate deterrent for hardened life-convicts), Port Arthur and Moreton Bay (now Brisbane).
Modern uses and types
Judicial corporal punishment was removed from the statute book in
Great Britain in 1948. The cat was still being used in Australia in 1957
and is still in use in a few Commonwealth countries, although the cane
is used in more countries.
However, some former colonies in the Caribbean have reinstated flogging with the cat. Antigua and Barbuda reinstated it in 1990, followed by the Bahamas in 1991 (where, however, it was subsequently banned by law) and Barbados in 1993 (only to be formally declared inhumane and thus unconstitutional by the Barbados Supreme Court).
Trinidad and Tobago
never banned the "cat". Under the Corporal Punishment (Offenders over
Sixteen) Act 1953, use of the "cat" was limited to male offenders over
the age of 16. The age limit was raised in 2000 to 18.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has been accused of torture
and "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of prisoners, and in 2005
was ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
to pay US$50,000 for "moral damages" to a prisoner who had received 15
strokes of the "cat" plus expenses for his medical and psychological
care; it is unclear whether the Court's decisions were implemented.
Trinidad and Tobago did not acknowledge the Court's jurisdiction, since
it had denounced the American Convention on Human Rights several years
before the Court started hearing this case.
