Disparities in School Punishment in Conservative Christian Districts

• In Event: New Perspectives on School Punishment and Security

Abstract

Previous literature has indicated that the use of corporal punishment has higher levels of support among certain sects of conservative Christianity, who tend to practice biblical literalism that emphasizes harsh punishment. However, no study has investigated the ways in which this general level of support maps onto schools. To fill this gap in the literature, this study asks, “Do schools in areas with large populations of conservative Christianity utilize corporal punishment against students more than schools that do not have large populations of conservative Christians?” We answer this using a merged dataset of the U.S. DOE’s CRDC, the American Community Survey, the U.S. Religious Census, and the Common Core of Data.

Authors

• Jared Griffith, University of Oklahoma

• Julie Gerlinger, University of Oklahoma