{"id":371945,"date":"2016-03-31T21:34:37","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T02:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/state\/colorado-law\/colorado-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools-laws.html"},"modified":"2016-06-20T19:50:07","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T00:50:07","slug":"colorado-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools-laws","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/state\/colorado-law\/colorado-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools-laws.html","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Corporal Punishment in Public Schools Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Colorado Corporal Punishment in Public Schools Laws<\/h1>\n
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Corporal or physical punishment<\/a> in public schools used to be commonplace. Today, it’s legal, but exceedingly rare for corporal punishment<\/a> to be used in the United States. Overtime, Colorado has also decreased its use of corporal punishment. In time, the people or legislators of Colorado may join 31 other states<\/a> in permanently outlaw this practice.<\/p>\n

In 2000, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) estimated 260 students were physically punished<\/a>. Of those students, 19 were boys and 241 were girls, a huge disparity between the genders. In comparison, in 2010, OCR found no children in Colorado<\/a> were subjected to physical discipline. Despite this, as corporal punishment is still legal it\u2019s possible more children will be punished physically in the future, unless it\u2019s outlawed by the people via the initiative process<\/a> or legislators by enacting a new bill to prohibit the practice.<\/p>\n

The following table outlines some of the main laws on corporal punishment in public schools<\/a> in Colorado.<\/p>\n\n
Code Section<\/b><\/td>\nColorado Revised Statutes Section 27-10.5-115: Right to Humane Care and Treatment<\/a> (Persons with Disabilities)
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\n12 Code of Colorado Regulations (CCR) 2509-8, Section 7.702.66: Discipline<\/a> and 7.712.55 (Child Care Facilities), 7.713.22: Youth Rights (Secure Residential Treatment Facilities), 7.715.46: Discipline (Shelters)<\/td>\n<\/tr>
What is Prohibited?<\/b><\/td>\nNo school or other service provider or caregiver of a student with a disability is permitted to use corporal punishment or physically restraint (for the purposes of discipline) the child with a disability. The use of seclusion, basically placing the child with a disability in a room by themselves to punish them, is also prohibited.
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\nCorporal punishment is also prohibited<\/a> in child care facilities, secure residential treatment facilities, foster homes, shelters, and the like.
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\nNo statutory provisions exist outlawing or permitting corporal punishment of traditional public school students.<\/td>\n<\/tr>
Punishment Allowed<\/b><\/td>\nYes, it\u2019s technically legal to use physical punishment, such as paddling in public schools in Colorado. In practice, it\u2019s almost never done.<\/td>\n<\/tr>
Circumstances Allowable<\/b><\/td>\nAs long as the child doesn\u2019t have a disability and it\u2019s being done in a public school by an employee (not a bullying<\/a> instance by another child), than the corporal punishment could be allowed.<\/td>\n<\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n

Note:<\/i><\/b> State laws are changing all the time, it\u2019s important to confirm the accuracy of any state laws you are researching.<\/i><\/p>\n

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