Singapore's use of caning as a form of judicial corporal punishment became much discussed around the world in 1994[4] when a United States citizen, Michael Fay, was caned for vandalism.[5] Two of Singapore's neighbouring countries, Malaysia and Brunei, also use judicial caning.
Malaysia (Criminal law: men – cane on bare buttocks; in private, male juveniles - cane on clothed buttocks with a light cane; in courtroom).[33] See Caning in Malaysia. *(Sharia law, Muslims only: men and women – cane on clothed back; in private)[34][35]
The above list does not include countries where a "blind eye" is sometimes turned to unofficial JCP by local tribes, authorities, etc. including Bangladesh,[53] India and Colombia.[54]
In 1854, all forms of JCP were abolished in the Netherlands with the exception of whipping. Whipping was later abolished in 1870.
In the Wetboek van Strafrecht, article 9, this kind of punishment is not listed as primary or secondary punishment. Mainly because of human rights and/or human dignity, corporal punishment has been abolished.
South Africa
The Constitutional Court decided in 1995 in the case of S v Williams and Others that caning of juveniles was unconstitutional. Although the ruling in S v Williams was limited to the corporal punishment of males under the age of 21, Justice Langa mentioned in dicta that there was a consensus that corporal punishment of adults was also unconstitutional.[55]
In the United Kingdom, judicial corporal punishment generally was abolished in 1948;[58] however, it persisted in prisons as a punishment for prisoners committing serious assaults on prison staff (ordered by visiting justices) until it was abolished by section 65 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967.[59] The last ever prison flogging happened in 1962.[60][61]
Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man
The last birching sentence in Jersey was carried out in 1966. Birching was abandoned as a policy in 1969 but lingered on the statute books. Obsolete references to corporal punishment were removed from remaining statutes by the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) (Jersey) Law 2007.[62]
The last birching sentence in Guernsey was carried out in 1968. The Corporal Punishment (Guernsey) Law, 1957 was finally repealed by the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2006.[63]
Judicial birching was abolished in the Isle of Man in 1993 following the 1978 judgment in Tyrer v. UK by the European Court of Human Rights.[64] The last birching had taken place in January 1976; the last caning, of a 13-year-old boy convicted of robbing another child of 10p, was the last recorded juvenile case in May 1971.[65]
United States
Judicial corporal punishment in a women's prison, USA (ca. 1890)
American colonies judicially punished in a variety of forms, including whipping, stocks, the pillory and the ducking stool.[66] In the 17th and 18th centuries, whipping posts were considered indispensable in American and English towns.[67] Starting in 1776, George Washington strongly advocated and utilised judicial corporal punishment in the Continental Army, with due process protection, obtaining in 1776 authority from the Continental Congress to impose 100 lashes, more than the previous limit of 39.[68] In his 1778 Bill for Proportioning Crimes and Punishments, Thomas Jefferson provided up to 15 lashes for individuals pretending to witchcraft or prophecy, at the jury's discretion; castration for men guilty of rape, polygamy or sodomy, and a minimum half-inch hole bored in the nose cartilage of women convicted of those sex crimes.[69] In 1781, Washington requested legal authority from the Continental Congress to impose up to 500 lashes, as there was still a punishment gap between 100 lashes and the death penalty.[70]The Founders believed whipping and other forms of corporal punishment effectively promoted pro-social and discouraged anti-social behavior. Two later presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, advocated judicial corporal punishment as punishment for wife-beating.[71]
In the United States, judicial flogging was last used in 1952 in Delaware when a wife-beater got 20 lashes. In Delaware, the criminal code permitted floggings until 1972.[72][73][74] One of the major objections to judicial corporal punishment in the United States was that it was unpleasant to administer.[citation needed]
^"United Arab Emirates – Country Reports on Human Rights Practices". Retrieved 27 October 2015. In February an Indonesian woman convicted of adultery by the Shari'a court in the Emirate of Fujairah, was sentenced to death by stoning after she purportedly insisted on such punishment. The sentence was commuted on appeal to 1 year in prison, followed by deportation. In June 1998, the Shari'a court in Fujairah sentenced three Omani nationals convicted of robbery to have their right hands amputated. The Fujairah prosecutor's office instead commuted the sentence to a term of imprisonment.
^S v Williams and Others[1995] ZACC 6 at para. 10, 1995 (3) SA 632, 1995 (7) BCLR 861 (9 June 1995), Constitutional Court (South Africa)
^"Section 13: The abolition of JCP". Judicial Corporal Punishment in South Africa. World Corporal Punishment Research. 2005. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
^Journals of the Continental Congress, Articles of War – 20 September 1776, Section XVIII – Art. 3: "No person shall be sentenced to suffer death, except in the cases expressly mentioned in the foregoing articles; nor shall more than one hundred lashes be inflicted on any offender, at the discretion of a court-martial." Articles of War – 30 June 1775, Art. 51 limited JCP to 39 lashes. EUGENE D. GENOVESE, ROLL, JORDAN, ROLL – THE WORLD THE SLAVES MADE 308 (1974).
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