Corporal punishment usually stops the misbehavior in the immediate situation, but parents and teachers have no way of seeing the long-term effects such as depression or hitting a spouse because they do not show for months or years later.

Like all harmful events, most people who experience them, are not harmed. For example, while a third of heavy-smokers die from smoking related diseases, two-thirds of them don’t meet the same fate. Similarly, only a small percentage of solders in combat end up with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.