Historical legacies and use of corporal punishment of children in the home, in Italy

Abstract

The paper focuses on corporal punishment of children in the home in Italy, adopting a historical, legal, and comparative perspective. Despite international legislation protect- ing children by excluding any form of corporal punishment, in Italy, the law confirms right of parents to correction. With empirical evidence in mind, which suggests that country legislation is one element that affects indirectly parental behaviors, and that legislation an heritage of a country’s history, a historical-critical and comparative analysis becomes central, in order to effectively understand corporal punishment, which con- tinue to be perpetrated to harm of children.