The Adrian Peterson Case

Recently news reports have been covering incidents of domestic violence and suspected child abuse by players in the National Football League, particularly towards women and children. These stories have captured the attention of the American people, and quite possibly people around the world. However, one story in particular has peeked my interest; The Adrian Peterson case. The recent events surrounding this NFL player have inspired me to take a deeper look into parenting styles in regards to corpral punishment, how discipline techniques are critized , and how or if there is any social impact on society. Mr. Peterson, running back for the Minnesota Vikings, was recently indicted on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child and charged with one count of injury to a child for spanking his four year old son with a “switch”. Montgomery County First Assistant District Attourney Phil Grant explained that in Texas a parent …show more content…
As written in Corporal Punishment in America Today: Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child? A Systematic Review of the Literature, corpral punishment is legally defined by the states as “encompassing reasonable force with some states (Texas being one of them) adding qualifiers that it must be appropriate, moderate, necessary, non-deadly force. Corpral punishment has been a longtime practice in Texas and was at one point allowed in educational settings. These findings suggest that spanking is a norm within the society in which Mr. Peterson and his parents grew up in. These findings also vary demographically with the highest approval in the South among African Americans, Prostants, people of lower socioeconomic status, and among people who have experienced corpral punishment as a part of their upbringing. The injuries sustained by the child were photographed and show cuts and bruises on multiple parts of the young boys