Re: Judge William Adams is from Texas

"Those are called spankings in Texas."

Yes, and not just Texas.

And, frankly, such punishments were more common than not until 50 or 60 years ago. After hearing the descriptions, I expected to see something more than a spanking. The bit about describing the girl as "disabled" is something of a stretch, too. From the description I was thinking a girl in a wheelchair or something, but she appears to be in reasonably good physical shape. Physically, this spanking appears to be somewhat less severe than what was commonly given in public schools not long ago, and less severe than the incidental roughness many young adults endure if sent to prison.

While I don't think spankings are generally a good idea, and I oppose taking advantage of people with disabilities, I also expect for words to mean what they mean, and calling this a whipping of a disabled girl is misleading.

In short, in many jurisdictions across "flyover country" this video would only enhance Adams' reputation as a judge.

That said, there are several major problems with this case, and with Judge Adams.

First, even within the culture that promotes spankings as punishment this example fails in two ways: (a) The disciplinarian must always keep their cool, and Judge Adams clearly lost his. (b) The young woman being spanked is also much too old for a spanking. Spankings are intended as a punishment for a child who is old enough to understand that they are being punished for being disobedient and young enough that they cannot be reasoned with. Generally, spanking should stop by age six or seven, and in extraordinary cases perhaps as late as age 12.

Second, Judge Adams is verbally abusive. He is casually disrespectful of his daughter in a quite contemptible way. A child who is being disciplined should understand that their parents love them and are teaching them discipline in order to make them a better person. Adams calls his daughter names and gives the impression that he has lost all hope for her - in which case this punishment is simply sadistic, as he doesn't expect it to help his daughter. It is this verbal abuse that is the most harmful in the long term, as the spanking itself would not fit most definitions of physical abuse. Furthermore, although his daughter was reportedly 16 years old at the time, he stresses her "disobedience" - whereas by this age she should be largely independent, and her parents should not be giving her orders as such.

Third, Judge Adams is enforcing a stupid rule. As qtns2di4 noted, he is really doing the work of the RIAA, who must bear responsibility for this and many more such spankings across the U.S., due to their campaign equating use of unofficial recordings to theft. Related to this, the legal system which holds parents responsible for the actions of their adult (12+) children is also at fault. As a Judge, Adams was probably aware of the sort of settlements the RIAA has been looking for, and perhaps felt his own finances were endangered by the reckless actions of his daughter. If he was really stupid enough to believe the RIAA's arguments at face value he is simply too stupid and/or too rigid in his thinking to be a judge.