Fighting Back

Introduction
Detective Robert R. Surgenor

"Dispatch to unit sixteen twenty four, we have a domestic in progress at 383 Walnut Drive. Units sixteen twenty eight and sixteen twelve, assist."

I had been a police officer for less than three months when I heard those words come over the police radio in my cruiser one night as I patrolled the city on the midnight shift. I was anxious to get involved, so I hit the red lights and siren as I headed in the direction of the domestic violence call. Dispatch then advised that she heard a lot of screaming in the background as the caller described how the fifteen year old boy was beating up his parents. I thought to myself, "This kid must have a lot of guts to be beating up mom and dad!" Then one of the veteran officers called my number over the radio. "Surgenor," he said, "get used to this kid. We deal with him on a daily basis!"

It took five police officers to get the fifteen-year-old boy in handcuffs and place him in a police car. Since the veterans usually get credit for the arrests, they took him back to the police station while I was burdened with taking the report. I interviewed the mother to determine why the boy had become so violent. The mother stated that they had simply tried to restrain the boy from leaving the house after curfew. Not wishing to comply with his parent's authority, he proceeded to punch the daylights out of both mom and dad. Mom explained that they had lost control of the boy at an early age, as young as three or four years old. He simply refused to do what they said. "We've tried everything," she sobbed. "We've tried time outs, we've tried grounding him, we've taken privileges away, it just seems like nothing works." I then asked mom a very simple question. "When he was three years old and refused to do what you said, did you ever spank him?" Mom became very angry as her eyes narrowed to slits and she gritted her teeth. With blood running down her face from a broken nose, she replied, "We don't believe in spanking. Violence begets violence!"

I didn't tell the mom how ridiculous she sounded. During the next nineteen years I heard that statement from many parents who were trying to deal with out of control children. It soon became apparent to me that children who had never been spanked were more likely to get in trouble in school, in trouble with the law, and were more likely to grow up with an attitude of complete defiance of authority. It appeared that spanking a child for certain types of misbehavior instilled the healthy fear and respect for authority that is missing in many of today's youth.

The current culture has swallowed the theory that "violence begets violence" hook, line, and sinker. Because of a few "child rearing experts" like Murray Straus and Irwin Hyman, parents are eliminating spanking from their itinerary of discipline. Legislators are passing laws that make it harder for parents to spank, and make it easier for parents to be prosecuted. Most of you have heard of the recent Canadian case where eight children from the Aylmer Church of God school were taken from their parents by the Children's Aid Society of Canada. Shortly thereafter, 28 mothers and 83 children fled Canada to the United States to prevent the Canadian government from doing the same with their families. But this type of activity is not restricted to other countries. In June of 2001, authorities removed 42 children from their parent's custody at the House of Prayer Church in Atlanta, Georgia. The reason? The children were spanked for misbehavior!

This type of publicity has caused many people to think that spanking your child is illegal, when in fact, the complete opposite is true. In both Canada and the United States, the parent has the authority to use corporal punishment in child rearing. It amazes me how very few people know the law and how to defend themselves against child abuse allegations. In Ohio, the law states "A child exhibiting evidence of corporal punishment or other disciplinary measures by a parent,… IS NOT AN ABUSED CHILD under this division." The law goes on to say that the discipline must cause a "substantial risk of SERIOUS PHYSICAL HARM to the child." Bruising your child during a spanking is not child abuse in Ohio. Yet many child abuse investigators, police officers, and even judges, are ignorant of the law and make decisions based on the rhetoric of a few "experts" that "violence begets violence." In many cases, officials and government agents are violating the constitutional rights of parents when they forcefully remove a child without probable cause that a violation of the law has taken place!

We are going to examine the spanking issue from many perspectives. Is spanking really Biblical? The anti-spanking bunch accuses the Bible of being contradictory. Does God contradict Himself when He speaks of corporal punishment? Is it legal to spank your children? How far does Ohio law say I can go before spanking becomes illegal? What do I do when the child abuse worker comes to my door? Does the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protect me from authorities entering my home without a warrant?

In this series, we are all going to learn a lot about corporal punishment. Perhaps this information will encourage parents to continue to raise their children in the manner prescribed by God. Proverbs 29:15 states, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." For years as a police detective in charge of my city's Juvenile Crime Unit, I have dealt with the "child left to himself." For Christian parents who have been deceived by our current culture, it is time to change that.