INGRAHAM V. WRIGHT

INGRAHAM v. WRIGHT

Tuesday, April 19, 1977

Vol XCIII, No. 311

$0.50

More Information

Background Information

• Dade County, Florida. Drew Junior High School, principle was Willie J. Wright.
• Case argued November 2-3, 1976. Court Justice- Warren E. Burger.
• Plantiff- Ingraham and his mother, they believed the beating was "cruel and unusual punishment" and violated the 8th amendment. Defendant- Wright, believed the punishment was just and resonable and violated no laws.
• Roosevelt Andrews was another students who faced similar circumstances.
• The evidence showed the punishment was very harsh, and possibly unecessesary.

Issues to be decided:

• Did the punishment violate the 8th Amendment
• Did the school violate the Due Process Clause under the 14th Amendment
• Was the paddling "cruel and unusual punishment"

Both Sides:

• The paddling was harsh and unessecary, the school did not allow him to defend himself.
• The school had the right to use corporal punishment, the students do not need Due Process

The Decision

James Ingraham, a 14 year old eight grade students at Drew Junior High School in Miami, was pulled into the principle's office after causing a scene at an assembly. James refused to admit he was guilty of the accused actions and was then punished. The principle decided the appropriate punishment was to restrain James down on a table, with the help of two others, and deliver over twenty swats with a wooden paddle. This caused James a great deal of pain, and as a result, he suffered bruises that caused him to miss 10-11 days of school. James mother was furious after hearing this and decided to sue the principle and other school officials. Under the lawsuit, she claimed that the paddling violated the eight amendment which protections against "cruel and unusual punishments." She also claimed the punishment violated the Due Process Clause in the fourteenth amendment.

After much debate, a decision was made on April 19, 1977.

The Justice ruled that:

• The Common Law requires that corporal punishment be reasonable but not excessive (authorized and limited), therefore reasonable physical punishment in schools does not violate the Constitution.
• The 8th Amendment does not apply to disciplinary corporal punishment. The Amendment applys to criminals not "schoolchildren who misbehave".
• The Due Process Clause does not require notice and hearing prior to imposition of corporal punishment.
• Use restraint and consider the student's age, physical condition, behaviors, and the seriousness of the offense before deciding the punishment.

The court ruled in favor of Wright and the high school with a 5-4 vote. Powell, Burger, Stweart, Blackman, Rehnquist in favor of Wright. White, Brennan, Marshall, Stevens in favor of Ingraham.

The prisoner and the schoolchild stand in wholly different circumstances…

- Justice F. Powell, Jr.

Reference

Significance

Jacobs, Tom. "10 Supreme Court Cases Every Teen Should Know." The New York Times. The New York Times, Sept. 2007. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

Oluwole, J. (2014, September 22). Ingraham v. Wright. Retrieved March 26, 2015, from Encyclopedia Britannica.

After the case reached a verdict, the court left the question of whether to allow the states and local districts the decision to allow corporal punishment. Twenty-two states currently permit corporal punishment in public schools, and twenty-eight have banned the practice. Massachusetts and New Jersey are two of the twenty-eight states that prohibited all corporal punishment in public schools. The court case also brought up the question of whether corporal punishment should be allowed as a form of punishment in public schools. The supreme court did not add any opinion on this. Left to debate.

• Personal Opinion: This is an important issue because there is an unwritten rule that teachers should never hit their students, but according to this case, some states allow this. In order to properly teach students they must feel safe in the classroom. This cannot occur if the teacher or other school faculty members have permission to use corporal punishment on the students.