‘Excessive canings’ in Approved schools, MP says

 

Boys in approved schools were being subjected to twelve strokes of the cane across the backside for committing ‘indecency,’ the UK House of Commons was told in 1951.

Mr Reginald Sorensen, MP for Leyton, initiated a debate about the amount of corporal punishment in approved schools. An approved school was a place where young people could be sent by a court, usually for committing offences but sometimes because they were deemed to be beyond parental control. They were modelled on ordinary boarding schools, and it was relatively easy to leave without permission. This set approved schools apart from borstals, a tougher and more enclosed kind of youth prison.

Mr Sorensen said, “Anyone with but a moderate knowledge of psychology will agree that to try to cure indecency by imposing 12 strokes upon the delinquent is altogether absurd and not a remedy at all likely to cure that form of misbehaviour. We know that there is an intimate link between flagellation and stimulation and a certain amount of sexual distortion as well. Anyone who has studied the matter is aware that there is an intimate link and that sometimes flagellation is directly employed to promote sexual stimulation in degenerate types of pupils. I am not saying that this kind of thing occurs in most cases, but it may be so in some cases.”

Below is an edited extract from Mr Sorensen’s remarks. The full text is online here.

“In prisons, flagellation is now reduced to the minimum. The same is true, of course, in our Fighting Services. There was a time when, both in the Army and the Navy, flogging was looked upon as a necessary form of discipline, but now it is entirely abolished.

“In any case, all who have studied this matter at all will agree that, although flogging and corporal punishment may be a deterrent—and I agree that it may be in some circumstances—it is not always successful in this way. It does not remove the actual cause of the delinquency.

“The figures given to me by the Home Secretary were these. In 1950, I was informed ian regard to approved schools there were 13,600 boys and girls under the age of 17, and another 800 in approved probation hostels. In that case there were nearly 4,000 instances of corporal punishment—3,973.

“For those over 15 it was admitted there were 16 cases where 12 strokes were imposed for certain forms of delinquency—and it might be more than that—and 540 cases where six strokes or more have been imposed. For girls under 15—there were no figures for girls over 15 because it was thought they were unsuitable for that kind of punishment—there were 42 cases where they had six strokes, three on each hand. All this, of course, it has been admitted, is at the discretion of the schoolmasters or the heads of approved schools.

“There are certain regulations, I know—managers who can inspect the punishment books and so forth—but the discretion rests still very largely on the head. I am not going to suggest for a moment that more than a minority of these heads abuse their trust. I am certain that most of them are wise and humane people, but there is always the minority everywhere who have a sadistic streak, who are vindictive or deficient of knowledge to deal with certain forms of delinquency.

“One deduces from that knowledge that in these cases—12 strokes given in 16 cases—there must have been gross misjudgement and ignorance of the way in which to tackle some of these unfortunate forms of behaviour and therefore the regulations need tightening up and strengthening, while better guidance should be given where heads employ this kind of discipline.

“I would observe that in a great majority of approved schools there is nothing like this severity. If the cane is given, the punishment is of a mild and restricted character, if that be so, it makes it all the more astonishing that in some of these approved schools this excessive form of punishment is imposed. If it can be eliminated in certain schools, why should that not apply elsewhere?

“I notice the offences for which this corporal punishment of 12 strokes has been imposed include absconding, stealing, persistent unruliness, gross insolence and indecency. I know there are occasions when youngsters, especially of a certain type, can be extremely exasperating; when they are really so tough and unresponsive that, for the sake of the whole community, severe measures have to be taken. Even so, anyone with but a moderate knowledge of psychology will agree that to try to cure indecency by imposing 12 strokes upon the delinquent is altogether absurd and not a remedy at all likely to cure that form of misbehaviour. We know that there is an intimate link between flagellation and stimulation and a certain amount of sexual distortion as well. Anyone who has studied the matter is aware that there is an intimate link and that sometimes flagellation is directly employed to promote sexual stimulation in degenerate types of pupils. I am not saying that this kind of thing occurs in most cases, but it may be so in some cases.

“I would add further that surely stealing and persistent unruliness have occurred in all the hostels and approved schools in one way or another; but in dealing with what must be a fairly widespread misdemeanour, this excessive punishment is not used in the majority of schools; why, then, should it be used in some?

“It is impossible to give separate figures, but I am perfectly certain that in some schools this kind of punishment is given as a maximum and in others as a minimum. I might point out that, while there have been 16 cases where there have been these instances of 12 strokes for such misdemeanours as indecency, there are many more approved schools than 16 where indecency has occurred but this excessive punishment has not been imposed.

“I ask these questions. Could there be greater supervision of the heads of approved schools and remand homes and more specific guidance both as to the occasions on which corporal punishment can be imposed and the limitation on the form of corporal punishment?”

Picture credit: Endart.

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