Answer:
it is a cruel was to punish :(
In the USA Corporal punishment of criminals/prisoners was absolutely banned by the US government as being cruel and unusual punishment.....so if this punishment is to cruel to be used on rapist,murderers,car thieves,spousal abusers,drug dealers,pedophiles and serial killers then therefor it should not be used on children and teenagers.....
Inflicting physical pain as a punishment for wrong behavior has its limits especially with children and teenagers because as their tolerance for pain increases the effectiveness of the punishment begins to reduce and then reaches a point where the child/teen thinks nothing of the brief moment of pain that passes in a few minutes and commits the wrong acts without any real concern...
There are other more effective ways of punishment than physical pain....
Corporal punishment is not a deterant to wrong behavior...
A common example would be:: Billy does something wrong on Friday and his parents give him 4 wacks with a paddle causing him 5 minutes of pain,and on Saturday Billy is out to play and have fun with his friends all day long...eventually Billy would learn to deal with the brief moment of pain knowing that the next day he would be out doing what he normally does.....
A more effective form of punishment would be ::billy did something wrong on Friday so he is not allowed out to play the entire weekend,nor have any TV or video/PC games or friends over....This form of punishment lasts much longer than the 5 minutes of pain and Billy would not be so quick to commit that wrong act again and have his enjoyments taken away from him...
There are always other methods of effective discipline besides physical pain..