Parental Discipline: When Is It Abuse and/or a Crime?

[Update, May 2016: In this post on the SOG's civil blog, Sara discusses two new appellate cases concerning the definition of abuse in the child discipline context.] [Editor's note: Today's post is by Sara DePasquale, a relatively recent addition to the SOG faculty. Sara works in the areas of juvenile law and child welfare, and we are delighted to welcome her to the blog.] Last Tuesday, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson pled no contest to misdemeanor reckless assault after being charged in September with felony child abuse for disciplining his 4 year old son with a switch.  Since the charges, he has been on the NFL “Commissioners Exempt List” and unable to play. Nike terminated his contract on Tuesday, and his future with the NFL remains uncertain. What if Adrian Peterson lived in North Carolina? The facts as the public knows them are that Adrian Peterson’s son is 4 years old.  While he was with his father in Texas last spring, his father disciplined him with a wooden switch, which caused multiple bruises and open cuts on the boy’s hands, thighs, lower back, buttocks, and scrotum. The marks were still present when he returned to his mother’s care in Minnesota. She brought him to a doctor, who made a report to Texas authorities. Adrian Peterson was criminally charged, and there are limited references to a child protective action. I believe Adrian Peterson would have faced the same legal actions here. North Carolina has a universal mandated reporting law, requiring any person [...]