Caning

"Schoolhouse" Cane

Caning is a physical punishment (see that article for generalities and alternatives) consisting of a beating with a cane, generally applied on the bare or clad buttocks (see spanking), shoulders, hand(s) (palm, rarely knuckles) or even the soles of the feet (see falaka).

Scope of use

It was a common form of punishment in many parts of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and several European colonies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but it has now been banned in most countries. It is often considered a cruel, inhumane, and degrading punishment, as meant by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, but it remains legal in numerous nations.

Caning was practiced as a judicial punishment for juveniles but was best known as a method of educational discipline in schools or at home. The Western use of the cane dates principally to the late nineteenth century when educationalists sought to replace birching—which is only effective if applied to the bare flesh—with a form of punishment more suitable to contemporary sensibilities. The cane, if applied expertly, transmits much pain even through layers of clothing.

Judicial use

Judicial caning, carried out with a long rattan or birch rod and generally much more severe than the canings given in schools, was a feature of some colonial judicial systems and still is in some cases post-independence, particularly in East Asia and some African countries.

In Singapore, healthy males under 50 years of age can be sentenced to a maximum of 24 strokes of the rotan (rattan) cane on the bare buttocks; the punishment is mandatory for over 30 offenses, mostly violent or sexual crimes, but also some immigration violations, drug violations and acts of vandalism. It is also imposed for certain breaches of prison rules. Female criminals may also be caned in prison according to "prison act".

Educational use in home and school context

The frequency and severity of canings in educational settings are often determined by the school's written rules or unwritten traditions. For example, in some schools, corporal punishment was administered solely by the head teacher, but in many English and Commonwealth private schools, authority to punish was also given to certain senior students (often called prefects). A typical punishment in an English elementary school in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century consisted of one or two strokes on the hand. In many secondary schools in England and Wales, it was used mainly for boys and only very rarely for girls until the early 1980s. In this setting, it was more often administered to the clothed buttocks, usually with a maximum of six "swats" (known as "six of the best"). Such a caning often leaves a student with severe welts, making it painful to sit down for days or even weeks after the caning.

Other uses

Caning is also a more severe but not uncommon sadomasochistic practice. In nineteenth-century France, the practice was dubbed "Le vice Anglais" ("The English Vice"), as it was believed that the English, in particular, derived sexual pleasure from corporal punishment, probably because of its widespread use in British schools. This term is still in occasional use.

Cane types and terminology

An A-frame for judicial and prison caning in Pudu Prison, Kuala Lumpur.

A mannequin tied to an A-frame, to demonstrate judicial caning in Malaysia. Note the torso shield that covers the lower back and upper thighs while leaving the buttocks exposed.

Canes can be manufactured for disciplinary purposes in different sizes and weights, determining the potential severity of the punishment. The main types are often known by the age groups of intended victims, especially in the domestic context:

'Light' canes (about 8 mm in diameter and 60 cm long, according to some sources) are called junior canes. They are normally considered sufficient to punish young school children (except sometimes for the gravest offenses) and hence also known as school cane. However, in America, where the paddle took the place of the cane for discipline, the name junior cane was rather given to a ceremonial walking stick students paraded with.

These terms are commonly used regarding canes and caning:

Nursery cane

is sometimes used for even lighter canes, as it would be used for children under school age

The senior cane is a heavier type (about 10 mm thick, 75-80 cm long) than the junior cane and is frequently used for older children (or except for the lightest offenses); it is maybe synonymous with the "adult cane."

Reformatory cane

was reserved for the worst, '(otherwise) incorrigible' juveniles. About 12 mm thick and 36-48 inches long, this cane was often reserved for older boys and was used in severe cases; a similar term is Borstal cane (after the Borstall, a Commonwealth type of reformatory).

Singapore cane

used in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei for the judicial and prison punishment of adult criminals, is 15 mm in diameter and about 1.2 m long and can easily cause severe wounds and leave permanent scars on the recipient.

The different varieties of rattan used are sometimes preferred because of their intrinsic severity. Of these, the common kooboo is considered lighter (if the same size) than the denser Dragon Canes; other common types bear geographical names: Malacca is Malaysia's continental peninsula, Palambang a city on the island of Sumatra.

For misbehaving children in Asia, most parents use a wooden ruler or the handle end of a feather duster, usually made of narrow bamboo-like material.

In some spheres, the cane, typically used by a certain disciplinarian, is commonly called after him. Thus in the Royal Navy the bonus's cane was frequently used on the backsides of boys without ceremony (as opposed to publicly kissing the gunner's daughter, a formal bare bottom flogging on deck ordered by the captain or a court-martial, usually involving birch or cat o' nine tails) on the spot or in the gun room, for daily offenses (at least one mid-19th-century captain had every single junior boy given six cane strokes every morning on various pretexts considered too insignificant to require written formalities or orders from an officer (who certainly could and routinely also did order the cane, actually wielding it was deemed unsuitable for a gentleman), but more severe than the bimmy. The cane in the hands of a corporal (especially of the Marines on board many fighting ships, often ordered to carry out formal punishment of crew members as well) was called stonnacky. To standardize the canes (but the effective wielding is impossible to capture in written rules), the Admiralty had specimens according to all prevailing prescriptions, called patterned cane (and birch), kept in every major dockyard.

In ancient China, suspects or criminals were often caned, as punishment for interrogation, with large sticks or planks the size of an oar suited for today's small sailing boats. The offender usually bleeds from the wound at the buttocks and can get infections if not treated instantly. The offenders will almost certainly have to spend days in bed.

• Other, even lighter types of cane (e.g., as used for plant care) can also be used for physical discipline, especially in fetishist and BDSM circles; in fact, the term caning is also used, sometimes even instead of an existing specific term, for corporal punishment with an else-named but similar device, such as a pointing stick or ruler, especially if made of wood.
• While the rattan never caught on in North America, the rather equivalent hickory stick (made from the native hickory tree) has also been a frequent, feared implement for school discipline. Still, like the freshly cut, flexible switch and other alternatives, it gave way in the US almost exclusively (that is where corporal punishment persists or reemerges) to paddling with a flat wooden implement. At the same time, in Canada, the strap mainly was used for severe physical discipline except in some private schools where even coils of electrical wiring or the broken handles of ice hockey sticks were sometimes used to beat students.

See also [ Eighth Amendment ]

List of Spanking Implements
Flat spanking implements bath brush (wooden or plastic) belt bimmy cooking spatula (wooden or plastic) dough scraper (rubber or silicone) flyswatter hairbrush (wooden or plastic) leather paddle Newspaper paddle (wooden paddle) ping-pong paddle ruler (wooden or plastic) slapper/flapper slipper / Plimsoll strap / Strop tawse wooden spoon Stick-like spanking implements blackboard pointer cane (rattan, bamboo etc.) crop ferula stick switch yardstick Other spanking implements baccalà (clipfish) birch carpet beater Quirt rope's end scourge stinging nettles Whipping implements include bullwhip cat o' nine tails chicotte (an African whip) flail flogger horsehair whip human hair whip klopfpeitsche loopy johnny martinet quirt rebenque (South American gaucho whip) rubber hose single-tail whip sjambok (South African whip)
Some spanking implements produce more "sting" while others produce more "thud". See "sting and thud" for more on this distinction.

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