Should spanking be outlawed?

By: Mario Diaz

Tampa, Florida - According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 90 percent of parents have spanked their child at least one time. For thousands, it's a way of parenting.

The state of California is going to examine the possibility of banning physical punishment in March. And it's striking a nerve with many here in the Bay area.

Whether it's at a park in the Bay area or on the streets of downtown Tampa, the topic of spanking your child is polarizing with no shortage of opinions. Watch the video and see the questions I asked local parents, and their answers.

In California, parents may not be lifting a finger at all in the future. State lawmaker Sally Leiber has introduced a bill that would put them in jail for a year or fine them up to $1,000. Even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is for it.

In Tampa, Dana Vince, a licensed mental health counselor with the state and mother of a one-year-old, has a much different viewpoint. She tells me she thinks the spanking bill is "ridiculous."

For two years, the 32-year-old worked with the Department of Children and Family Services. She investigated approximately 200 cases of abuse. According to Vince, government protection is one thing, government influence is another.

Dana Vince, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

“I don't think the government should get involved in telling parents in how to parent their children. If it's a case of abuse, then I certainly believe that the government should get involved, but I don't believe that spanking, that just an everyday slap on the butt, is considered abuse.”

If this measure that is being proposed in California eventually becomes a law, then perhaps it may be adopted in other states, maybe even here in Florida. Vince believes that the greatest damage in all this may not be by the hand that inflicted it, but instead by the hand of justice.

Local mother Candace Thompkins, says the solution is simple. She says, “The government needs to mind their own business.” Or their own behinds.