violence against children can never be good or justified.
The problem is we class a 16 year old the same as a 5yr old legally. A five year old does not need a slap they need teaching & educating, however a 16 year old going for his teacher or giving abuse to an elder may well benefit from one.
When I was around me and my friend set fire to a big farmers field, a very big farmers field, it was by mistake, we started a fire next to the field late summer when it was dry and not long been harvested (hay bails everywhere). Anyhow I got shot running out of the field by the farmer with a rice gun (shot gun with a shell full of rock salt), he caught me, slapped me silly, phoned the local bobby (police officer) who come and slapped me silly, then he took me home and my dad slapped me silly and grounded me with NOTHING and I mean nothing in my room for 6 months. Was this harsh, a little, did I deserve it, hell yeah. Did I learn from it, yes.
Abuse towards any person is not acceptable. I agree over hitting a child does not serve anything to the child other than abusing him/her, however the fear of getting punished and knowing it hurt (mentally) was always lingering in my mind. This is the problem nowadays, most do not have this fear.