SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) 鈥� This school year, Illinois will become just the fifth state in the nation to prohibit corporal punishment in all schools.

Legislation that Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law this month bans physical punishment in private schools while reiterating a prohibition on the practice in public schools implemented 30 years ago.

When the ban takes effect in January, Illinois will join New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland and New York in prohibiting paddling, spanking or hitting in every school.

State Rep. Margaret Croke, a Chicago Democrat, was inspired to take up the issue after an updated call by the to end the practice, which it says can increase behavioral or mental health problems and impair cognitive development. The association found that it's disproportionately administered to Black males and students with disabilities.

鈥淚t was an easy thing to do. I don鈥檛 want a child, whether they are in private school or public school, to have a situation in which corporal punishment is being used,鈥� Croke said.

Croke was also disturbed by the Cassville School District in southwest Missouri. After dropping corporal punishment in 2001, it as an opt-in for parents. Croke wanted to send a clear message that 鈥渋t never was going to be OK to inflict harm or pain on a child.鈥�

Much of the world agrees.

The World Health Organization has decreed the practice 鈥渁 violation of children鈥檚 rights to respect for physical integrity and human dignity.鈥� In 1990, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child established an obligation to 鈥減rohibit all corporal punishment of children.鈥�

The U.S. was the convention's lone holdout. Americans seemingly take a pragmatic view of the practice, said Sarah A. Font, associate professor of sociology and public policy at Penn State University.

鈥淓ven though research pretty consistently shows that corporal punishment doesn鈥檛 improve kids' behavior in the long run 鈥� and it might have some negative consequences 鈥� people don鈥檛 want to believe that,鈥� Font said. 鈥淧eople kind of rely on their own experience of, 鈥榃ell, I experienced corporal punishment. I turned out fine.鈥� They disregard the larger body of evidence.鈥�

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, last year introduced legislation, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, to ban corporal punishment in any school receiving federal funds. It was assigned to a Senate committee for a public hearing in May 2023 but has seen no further action.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also rejected constitutional claims against the practice. When junior high pupils in Dade County, Florida, filed a lawsuit challenging physical discipline, the court ruled in 1977 that Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment was reserved for people convicted of crimes; it did not apply to classroom discipline.

Today, 17 states technically allow corporal punishment in all schools, although four prohibit its use on students with disabilities. North Carolina state law doesn't preclude it but every school district in the state blocked its use in 2018. Illinois lawmakers in 1994 stopped the practice in public schools.

Among states that have completely outlawed it, New Jersey took the unusual step of barring corporal punishment in all schools in 1867. Iowa eliminated it in private schools in 1989. Maryland and New York stopped private school use in 2023.

Private school advocates, who vehemently oppose state intervention, did not oppose the new law.

Schools in the Catholic Conference of Illinois do not use corporal punishment, executive director Bob Gilligan said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an anachronistic practice,鈥� he said.

Ralph Rivera, who represents the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools, said he's unaware of any member school that uses the practice. While the group usually opposes state meddling in its classrooms, Rivera said, objecting to a corporal punishment ban on principle is a tough sell.

鈥淓ven if they don鈥檛 do it, they told us to stay out of it, because it doesn鈥檛 look good when you say, 鈥楴o, we want to be able to spank children,'" Rivera said.

The law does not apply to home schools. Home-schooled students are subject to the same rules during school hours as those they face after school.

For student athletes, discipline or correction on the football field or the volleyball court would have to go beyond the pale to qualify as corporal punishment, Croke explained during floor debate on the measure last spring.

鈥淲e talked in committee about a situation in which maybe a coach said, 鈥楻un laps,鈥欌€� Croke said. 鈥淚 do not believe this would apply by any means because when we tell a kid to run laps, the goal is not necessarily to inflict pain.鈥�

Legislative debate, nonetheless, included Republican concern that imposing the requirement on private schools could facilitate rules affecting, for instance, curriculum or religious teachings.

Croke, whose school-age child attends Catholic school, said her intent was not to open the door to state regulation of private education but rather to 鈥渒eep kids out of harm鈥檚 way.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 a red line there, that hitting kids should never be allowed,鈥� Croke said.