Also known as: whip · whipped · whips · flogging · corporal punishment
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An act of striking a person with a whip or similar flexible instrument. The amount of force applied, the instrument used, the method of application, and the target's known physical condition determine whether the means threatens serious bodily harm.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Jordan grabbed a headset cord and swung it directly toward Vernon’s face before stopping an inch short while issuing a threat. Vernon reasonably apprehended an imminent strike. The swinging motion satisfied the element of intent to create apprehension of harmful contact even though no blow landed.
Officers subjected Warren Woods to repeated whipping during incommunicado questioning to obtain a statement. The physical brutality rendered the resulting confession involuntary under constitutional standards. Warren later challenged its admission at trial.
Winston West burned a cross on Wanda Weaver’s lawn while she watched from inside her home. The display conveyed an intent to inflict harm through symbolic whipping-like violence. Wanda sued claiming the act placed her in reasonable fear of bodily injury.
Willow Walker faced state charges after administering a whipping that caused serious injury to a minor. She demanded a jury trial on the ground that the offense carried potential imprisonment. The court granted the request because the penalty exposed her to loss of liberty.
Police applied whipping to Wren Wright until he provided an incriminating statement. Wren later invoked the privilege against self-incrimination to suppress the confession in state court. The court examined whether the coercion violated federal constitutional standards.
A student unfurled a banner depicting a whipping scene during a school event. School officials suspended the student for promoting violence. The student sued claiming the banner was protected expression rather than a true threat.
Yes. Liability attaches when the actor intends to create apprehension of harmful or offensive contact and such contact in fact results, even if the precise touching was unintended. The rule focuses on the formation of intent to threaten rather than on the actor’s prediction of the exact physical outcome.
Supporting sources
Courts consider the amount of force applied, the weapon or instrument used, the method of application, and the known physical condition of the target. A flexible instrument such as a cord or cable may threaten serious harm when swung at high speed toward a sensitive area even if the same instrument ordinarily causes only minor injury.
Supporting sources
…In a series of cases decided by this Court long after these studies, the police resorted to physical brutality—beating, hanging, whipping—and to sustained and protracted questioning incommunicado in order to extort confessions.[^maj-6] The Commission on Civil Rights in 1961 found much evidence to indicate that "some policemen…