You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.

The nurse pushing teh anti-corporal punishment bill in Massachusetts I noted the other day seems a bit confused by the kerfluffle she's started:

Kathleen Wolf said she just wanted to bring attention to the overly harsh punishment of children — but instead touched off a frenzied debate about whether Massachusetts should ban spanking.

Wolf's bill, "An Act Prohibiting Corporal Punishment of Children," was swiftly dubbed the "anti-spanking bill," sparking an angry response from parents who feared slapping their child on the bottom could soon become a crime.

But Wolf, who concedes the bill has no chance of becoming law, says she simply wants the state to better define when punishment degenerates into abuse.

"Spanking isn't abuse. Spanking isn't the main issue. It's about using physical force against children for punishment," said Wolf.

Emphasis added. Let's go back and have another look at the text of the bill:

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall, unless the context indicates otherwise, have the following meanings: -

“Child”, any person under eighteen years of age.

“Corporal punishment”, the willful infliction of physical pain or injurious or humiliating treatment.

(b) It shall be unlawful in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for any adult to inflict corporal punishment upon a child.

(c) The infliction of corporal punishment on a child may be a basis for a finding of abuse and neglect.

Well I'm just an ol' country lawyer, but I'd say that if you aren't willfully inflicting physical pain on your child, you aren't really spanking him. And vice versa. This bill doesn't better define abuse so much as lower the bar waaaaaay down. Wolf is either being extremely duplicitous or extremely naive.

Fortunately, there seem to have been a few adults in attendance at yesterday's hearing:

Lawmakers said beating children with belts and extension cords would likely cross the line into child abuse under current law. Sen. Karen Spilka, co-chairwoman of the committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, said the state needs to do more to combat child abuse, but isn't about to ban spanking.

"We are not going to be coming into people's homes as Big Brother planting little TV cameras or watching what parents do," she said.