Caning

[guywithashovel]

I have read a little bit about this form of punishment, and I thought I would bring it up here as a topic of discussion.

Caning is a form of corporal punishment that is used in various parts of the world. It involves a prisoner being beaten with a rattan cane. Two places where it is used are Singapore and Malaysia. Some of you may remember when an American citizen was caned in Singapore for vandalizing some cars. His name was Michael Faye, and his story was a pretty popular news story back in 1994.

I'm sure the punishment varies somewhat from country to country, but I'll try to paint a general picture of how caning works. It is administered for a variety of different crimes, ranging from illegal entry into a country to vandalism to rape and child molestation. Typically, judges will give the person a jail sentence along with the caning sentence, and the caning will be carried out sometime while the person is in jail.

In Singapore and Malaysia, caning is usually carried out in this manner. These countries only cane men, too. Women are not caned. Before being caned, prisoners are stripped naked and strapped into some form of restraining device. After being strapped in, the prisoner will receive a predetermined number of "strokes" with a rattan cane.

The Web site below describes caning. It describes how it's done, what offenses it's done for, what the rattan canes are like, and other various facts

http://www.corpun.com/singfeat.htm

This other Web site contains a video of an actual caning being carried out in Malaysia. The prisoner receives a rare 20 strokes of the cane. This video has floated around the Internet, and there are several rumors about what this prisoner's offense was. Some say he was a drug trafficker. Others say he was a child molester. The video is about three-fourths of the way down the page. In the video, the actual caning starts approximately 50 seconds into the video. The first 50 seconds show the prisoner being escorted into the area and being given some instructions. No one is speaking English, so I don't know what is being said.

********WARNING******** The video is quite disturbing. If you are squeamish, you may want to excercise caution about watching it.

http://www.corpun.com/vidju.htm

I'm wondering what people think about this form of punishment. If you think it's a good option, then what offences should it be used for?

[Flyndaran]

Inflicting pain for any purpose other than immediate infant/toddler discipline is wrong, in my opinion.
It's only useful in small children to force them to fear retribution rather than endanger themselves in whatever way the adult was trying to avoid... Like lightly spanking "dumb" kids to keep them from touching fire. It's ok, in my opinion, because kids can't understand anything else... and it's only a temporary fix to keep the child unharmed long enough to reach a more sapient mentality.

In larger kids, and adults, all it does is create a desire to inflict pain on others and a deep seated hatred of authority figures. Fighting fire with fire, or violence with violence, is rarely effective.
The idea of beating those that didn't even commit violent acts is even more reprehensible.

[BroomJockey]

The issue is that most people tend to operate on levels 1-3 of morality. If the jails can't hold everyone that would receive terms for breaking the laws, or the people just aren't fearing jail terms, then they need to find something to keep the level 1 people in line. Do I agree with this method? No. I've seen caning results. It's brutish and nasty. If not done properly, crippling someone is a possibility by hitting the spine.

Unfortunately, to stop using it, they'd need to find something that would work as an equal deterrent.

[Slytovhand]

Unfortunately, to stop using it, they'd need to find something that would work as an equal deterrent.

Yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at. There are crimes that shouldn't be committed. Find a way to make sure they aren't!

People use the phrase "You catch more flies with honey", to indicate, taking a soft approach can lead to better rewards. Fine! While it works, that is. When it doesn't work, then use something effective.

I'm all for effective... if honey is effective, use honey. When honey is not effective, don't try using it till it gets something, it's a waste of time.

[Nyoibo]

If not done properly, crippling someone is a possibility by hitting the spine.

I'm guessing why they now use the protective pad thing that covers the lower back and upper thighs.

People use the phrase "You catch more flies with honey", to indicate, taking a soft approach can lead to better rewards.

And we've seen how often the honey doesn't work, I'd be interested to see what sort of recidivism rate they have with the caning.

[guywithashovel]

I sometimes think that we should implement some kind of punishment like this, particularly for young offenders who vandalize and do other such things that disrupt the peace in their communities. I don't necessarily think that it should be done as extensively as it's done in Singapore. At the very least, I would advocate letting them keep their pants on for it. But I do often think that giving these young kids some kind of a whipping for the things they do would be effective. Maybe I'm wrong, though. Maybe if this were to be done, it would blow up in my face. The main reason I say this is that many of these young people who get in trouble with the law wear their legal troubles as badges of honor. They're like, "Yeah, I gotta go see the judge tomorrow. (haw haw). I guess it'll be more probation, or maybe I'll have to pick up some trash on the roads."

I wonder if they'd be that cocky about getting their butts busted.

[anriana]

If America had corporal punishment I might just have a criminal record.

[anriana]

In larger kids, and adults, all it does is create a desire to inflict pain on others and a deep seated hatred of authority figures. Fighting fire with fire, or violence with violence, is rarely effective.
The idea of beating those that didn't even commit violent acts is even more reprehensible.

Have you heard of BDSM? For some people pain produces pleasant feelings and horniness.

[guywithashovel]

If America had corporal punishment I might just have a criminal record.

Why do you say that?

I have read a little about the practice of caning, and one of the rationales that people in places like Singapore give for it is so that the criminals can be shown the pain that they have caused others.

[BroomJockey]

Why do you say that?

Err... You see, sometimes, when someone likes someone else very much, they...

You know what? Here

[guywithashovel]

I knew about BDSM. I just didn't know that was what Anriana was referring to.

[Flyndaran]

Why do you say that?

I have read a little about the practice of caning, and one of the rationales that people in places like Singapore give for it is so that the criminals can be shown the pain that they have caused others.

The problem with that is if they really didn't understand the consequences of their actions against the innocent, then hitting them won't do it either. They will just try harder to not get caught next time.
Punishment alone only forces the sensible people to not commit crimes they probably wouldn't have done anyway.