We're in Indiana today, so we picked up a copy of Friday's Star and found
The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that a Marion County mother who whipped her 11-year-old had the legal privilege to do so, overturning her battery conviction.
In its 4-1 ruling Tuesday, the court said that when Sophia Willis hit her son with a belt or extension cord, she caused bruises that were "neither serious nor permanent." The court said the punishment was reasonable.
Wait, it gets worse.
Willis, a single mother, testified that grounding her son had failed the last time he was caught stealing. When he denied the new theft, she sent him to her sister's home for two days. She also decided to swat him with a belt.
"I thought about it over the entire weekend and I even tried to talk to him again," Willis said, according to the Supreme Court opinion. "And he continued to lie. . . . I didn't know what else to do."
According to court documents, Willis had her son remove his pants and then hit him five to seven times on the buttocks with an extension cord or belt, resulting in bruising. The boy showed the bruises to a school nurse, who contacted authorities. Willis was arrested and charged with a Class D felony.
So the Indiana Supreme Court, in a 4-1 ruling, believes that beating another person, not in anger, but after due consideration, is a reasonable course of action.
Again, it's time to check the calendar. This is 2008 and supposedly we have better methods of changing behavior than to reach for a belt, a whip or a fist.
It's frightening to think what manner of actions will be taken against Indiana's children in the name of discipline.
-- Jim Grinstead
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