One New Beginnings staff member who has worked with the home since it was still part of “Rebekah” in Texas, occasionally recounted times when Mrs. Cameron slapped girls in the face when she still worked inside the actual dorm… Mrs. Mac was the primary physical disciplinarian, and “licks” were usually given with a thin, hard, white paddle. Many girls complained of bruises. The time that I got mine, Brother Mac brought in at least eight of my peers and threatened to have them hold me down. None of the girls looked like they wanted to help. Most of us realized that it was just something they did to prevent us from trusting each other.

There were periods of time when they wouldn’t administer licks. It seemed like the McNamara’s would back off for a while after a period of time when they were giving licks, and having girls held down by other girls or junior staff if they refused them, just constantly. It was like they’d decide to ease up after realizing they’d gone for a period of time being totally out of control about it.

Once on junior staff, I learned that during staff meetings Brother Mac actually talked about these “phases.” He’d say that the home was going to stop using licks as a punishment altogether so that they couldn’t get in trouble with the law anymore. The curtain rod incidents happened during times when the McNamara’s said they were going to limit, or completely stop giving licks out; but they continued anyway just because they were particularly angry, or desperately in need of getting things more firmly under their control. Other times, they used one of these rods, which were more specifically the hard plastic rods used to open and close mini-blinds, if they didn’t have the usual paddle on hand.

Numerous girls witnessed this happening plenty of times. I remember two incidences in particular. One time, Mrs. Mac gave licks to a girl named Jamie with one of these rods in a building behind one of the churches we sang in on Summer Tour. Several girls were made to hold her face down on the floor while she struggled, and she was repeatedly struck on the buttocks with one of these rods.

The other time, it was a girl named Kara. Brother Mac and another older staff member took Kara into a staff bathroom area. He was shouting terrible things at her while the rest of us listened from outside the door. We watched as he came out for a second, grabbed one of the mini-blind rods from one of the windows and hurried back into the bathroom. None of us could see what happened, but we could hear the girl screaming and begging for them to stop.

A 15-year-old expatriate girl living in Abu Dhabi will be flogged 90 times before being deported from the UAE for committing adultery.

The sentence was handed down by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court and supported by the Supreme Federal Court. The girl was charged by the criminal court with committing adultery at the age of 15.

The Prosecution claimed the girl was involved in an illicit relationship with a man and said she should be punished according to the Shariah Law. The court also sentenced the man involved with her.

The girl went to the Appeal Court which reconfirmed her sentence. She also appealed before the Supreme Federal Court on the grounds it was against the law to convict her since she is a teenager.

She said she was well below the legal permissible age of 18 when she committed the crime, implying the court should consider her case as a juvenile.

Her appeal was turned down by the federal court which supported the sentence and said the Shariah courts are solely responsible for applying Shariah laws for punitive crimes, blood money, drugs, juvenile delinquencies and others.

The court said according to the Shariah law, in contrast to the Civil Law, the girl has already reached adulthood by reaching puberty as confirmed by a medical doctor at Corniche Hospital.

Therefore she should be punished for adultery under the Shariah law which views that the girl deserves the punishment and should not be regarded a juvenile.

Abu Dhabi: A teenage girl will receive 60 lashes for having illicit sex with a man, the Federal Supreme Court has confirmed.

The girl, identified as R.A., who was 14 -years-old when the incident occurred, had sex with a man, identified as H.S. R.A. had been meeting with H.S. in secret, she told the public prosecution. The prosecution accused the two of adultery and khulwa [illegally staying together in a private place without being related].

The Al Ain court of First Instance sentenced R.A. to 60 lashes. It also sentenced H.S. to six months in jail but acquitted him of adultery for lack of evidence.

Two Indonesians, a watchman and a housemaid, have been sentenced to 100 lashes each and subsequent deportation for maintaining illicit relations and operating a prostitution racket in the Khartiyat area.

The Doha court of first instance heard that the 23-year-old man pimped for his lover (28) and another compatriot housemaid (25). The court was told that the watchman used the house as a vice den in the absence of the owner. He allegedly provided customers to the housemaids, both registered as absconders from their sponsors.

A 29-year-old Nepali customer was sentenced in absentia to three years’ imprisonment.

According to the public prosecution, a Qatari neighbour tipped off the authorities.

The Nkwanta District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) is to investigate allegations that the Headmaster of the Nkwanta Secondary School entered the girl’s bathhouse and whipped some students while they bathed.

Fifteen final year female students have lodged a complaint at the GES Office at Nkwanta that Mr Sebastian Kutorb, the Headmaster, last Thursday entered their bathhouse and gave them between six and 12 lashes each.

A student source told the Ghana News Agency that the students were among some final year students who returned to their dormitories at dawn after studies in their classrooms. She said while having their bath Mr Kutorb entered the bathhouse and went back without saying anything. The source said while the agitated students scampered to cover themselves they heard Mr Kutorb shouting out to a teacher for a cane…

When contacted Mr Kutorb said the students who were supposed to be attending a house meeting were being disciplined. He said the students were exaggerating what happened… Mr Kutorb complained; “final year students would always not want to respect school regulations.”

I was at 15yrs. I love to party with my friends. One of my friends was having a party. her parents was out for a couple of days, I asked my mom if I could stay the night. I told her that Michelle did not want to stay a lone by herself, mom said yes. mom did not know about the party. after school Michelle and I got the place ready for the party. We had the music up loud, spike the punch with her parents booze. all our friends bought in the food and snacks.

The party got going up till almost midnight the cops came and told us to turn the music down. we did, the cops left. then there was a fight and we had to break up the party. after all was gone home. We had a mess to clean. We got most of it cleaned up and decided we better get some shut eye. so we went to sleep. we slept for a long time.

We did not know mom would come by. My mom came over to see if we were OK. she knew we had a party. she could see the trash can full. of party goods. she had asked us if there was a party here. we fibbed mom did not believe us… she said to Michelle that she will be in a lot of trouble, My mom was going to tell her parents.

My mom then grabbed me and yanked me over her knees in front of my friend, down my PJ bottoms came, mom blistered my bottom with her hands and I was bawling in front of my friend, then I got soap in my mouth for the fib. Michelle was crying as well and she was not even spanked. I asked why she was crying. she blamed herself for getting me in trouble. my friend Michelle told my mother for her to spanked her as well for getting me in trouble and for lying. Michelle was 16 she is about 6mos older.

My mom told her that she wants Michelle to call her folks and tell them what has happen while my mom was here. My friend called her parents and told them what had happen and Michelle told them she was the one who put the party on. she gave the phone to my mom, my mom told them what Michelle had asked her to do. Her dad told my mom to blister her bottom good and to also tell his daughter that she is going to get another dose when they got home in 2 days. Mom hung up the phone told Michelle what her dad said. she was scared.

My mom made us clean the rest of the mess. Michelle was having to stay the remainder at my house. before we left mom took Michelle and told her to remove her PJ’s and undies Michelle was put over my moms knees and blistered with moms hands,She was bawling like I was. She also got the wash treatment. my bottom was still sore for the spanking it was only maybe an hr when I got mine. when her dad come to pick Michelle up he took her into my room and she was blistered again. her mother got permission to spank me as well and her mom did spank me bare with her hand.

Michelle told me my mom spankings hurt. I told her I know. It still did not keep us from having another party.

“An airline hostess had broken a safety regulation and though the company suffered no loss, the breach was still serious enough that she could easily be fired. Also, she was also an immigrant so this would have brought financial ruin and perhaps deportation.

The manager, named McCoy, knew this and quietly suggested that  she could keep her job provided she consented to corporal punishment, to be delivered later. She agreed, expecting discipline to be applied over her clothing.

She arrived later to learn her punishment would be a caning while bent over a chair, bare-bottom. She protested, he insisted, she ultimately acquiesced. The bruises lasted for some time and she complained to police, who arrested him.

At his trial the manager argued that he should be acquitted because she had consented to corporal punishment. The  magistrate disagreed and he was convicted of assault. The punishment she received was not the punishment she had consented to.  (Records do not show whether the airline hostess kept her job, but the manager certainly lost his.)”

Allison Guthrie, a recent high school graduate in the Dallas area, was paddled when she was 17. She was sent to detention three times in one week for being late, and was given the choice of in-school suspension or “swats”:

“The principal was male. I think he used to be the athletic director, he was maybe 300 pounds…. I had to get parental consent, my mom had to sign off on the swats. She actually came up to the school to sign off on that. She decided to leave it up to me, I guess she figured I could decide for myself….

“My mom left, and I went into the principal’s office and there was a female there, like a secretary, a female witness. He gave me a chair and said hold onto the chair. The paddle had holes in it. Then he just did three swats … I was hit on my buttocks…. There were holes in the paddle to make it go faster. There was a bit of a pause in between each swat. The whole thing was a minute. The principal didn’t say anything to me…. It hurt very much. There were definitely red marks and then swelling. I remember it being red on my buttocks. Almost welt-like markings. It didn’t last for more than a couple days….

“It was strange back then and it was even stranger when I got older. It was like, ‘Wow, you were a 17-year-old girl and got hit?’ But it was not out of the ordinary then because people got swats. It left me feeling very humiliated. I think there were several levels of emotion. Physical pain, mental humiliation. One, it felt a little unjustified-just for being late? And being a female at that age, it was like there was this older man hitting me on the butt. That’s weird.

Later in the report, she explains:

“It hurt very much. There were definitely red markings and then swelling. I remember it being red on my buttocks. Almost welt-like markings. It didn’t last for more than a couple days. It was painful to sit down immediately after.”

Other anecdotes from the same report include:

“One 19-year-old girl described why it was difficult to sit: “You know how when you bite your lip it swells up a little bit? Well, that’s how my butt felt.”" – Human Rights Watch interview with Brittany Y., who recently left high school, rural Mississippi, December 11, 2007.

“When a student is paddled, he or she is typically told to stand with his or her hands on a desk or a chair, so that the student is bent over, exposing the buttocks.” – Human Rights Watch interview with Nakia D., a twelfth-grade girl in rural Mississippi, December 4, 2007

“If students move during beatings they may receive additional blows and injuries. One eleventh-grade girl in Mississippi reported that in the course of a beating, her wrist was injured: “One time I got hit on my wrist with the paddle, and he told me, ‘I told you not to be sticking your hand back there.’ Well, I had my hands on the table and he was about to swing and hit me, and I reached back and he hit my arm with the paddle by mistake … it hurt!”" – Human Rights Watch interview with LaShell M., Mississippi Delta, December 4, 2007

“Another Mississippi girl told us, “[The principal] reared back and paddled me once and I stood up and he said, ‘No, bend over.’ And I said, ‘No, I can’t take no more-that really hurt.’… [H]e paddled me again.”" – Human Rights Watch interview with Brittany Y., who recently left high school, rural Mississippi, December 11, 2007

“One twelfth-grade Texas girl told us she had been paddled in eleventh grade for being tardy: “It seemed normal at the time, but now it seems weird that a man was hitting a teenage girl…. Well that’s just what I thought was supposed to happen. Weird to look back on it, though.”" – Human Rights Watch interview with Shannon Q., Midland, Texas, February 25, 2008

Another twelfth-grade girl echoed that sentiment: “Can you believe it, I got paddled by a male teacher? It was for little stuff, like talking out loud. – Human Rights Watch interview with Tammy K., Beaumont, Texas, February 19, 2008

The report also pictures a typical school paddle:

Have you ever tried to remember some high school adventures? Some were so imprudent…

There was this Mathematics teacher at Ngora High School who was very tough. He made everyone coil in fear whenever he roared: “Go for prep!” Everyone trembled except my best friend, Nancy. Up to now I don’t know where she drew her courage from.

One evening after supper when it was…, oops, I just remembered I didn’t tell you his name! On second thought, let me keep it to myself. It’s a small world and you never know when I will need his help or service. Let’s just call him Amon in this story.

It was Amon’s week on duty. His weeks on duty were the worst ever because the school would be as silent as a grave. No one ever dared to speak because you never knew where he would come from to pin you down. Nancy came up with this idea of locking Amon in the dormitory and then teasing him to take his shirt off.

Like any brave leader, she called the shots and drafted the plan. All we had to do was follow her and we did like ants. The plan was to make as much noise as possible, which would draw Amon to the dormitory, then someone would lock the door from outside and the teasing would begin.

To be honest, I was scared to death. I had never been expelled but somehow something told me that I had to go down that road this time round. The plan worked flawlessly and the girls had a field day shouting all kinds of insults at the guy. But no one was showing their face. Did I mention that we first removed the bulbs? Yes, there was darkness everywhere.

When Nancy deemed it fit to stop, she ordered for the door to be opened. To my surprise, the outwardly tough Amon was a hollow shell deep down inside. He was speechless and the speed at which he went out, you would think he was Usain Bolt’s cousin!

But there is always a price to everything. Despite the fact that it was worth every fun, the one acre of potatoes that we had to weed, not to mention the canes we had to endure in front of the whole school, was too much a price to pay. As for Amon, he realised that one hundred mice could bring down a lion!

Corporal punishment is defined as “paddling, spanking, or other forms of physical punishment imposed on a student” and schools are instructed to “Count each student only once regardless of the number of times punished.”

The download page gives you access to Excel spreadsheets by State. One could play with them for hours, but a few interesting stats:

• 48,519 female pupils received corporal punishment nationwide in the 2005-6 school year

• assuming 175 days schooling a year and an even spread of punishments across the calendar, that’s at least 277 girls being punished per day (in reality probably more, as some will be punished several times per year but will only be reported once in the data)

• in Texas, one female student out of every 212 was paddled in the year – that’s 52 a day

If you download data for your State and have anything interesting to report, please email it to me via the Contact tab and I’ll add it to this post.