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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Adrian Peterson Case Reveals Divide on Spankings

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014   

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - It's a case that has revealed the deep divide in the state and across the country over the use of corporal punishment, and as of now, despite the allegations of child abuse, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is back on the field.

Peterson was reactivated Monday by the team after being benched for Sunday's game. Some are applauding the decision, saying Peterson was simply disciplining his child. Others say he clearly crossed the line.

Becky Dale, interim executive director with Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota, says the Adrian Peterson case is an opportunity to raise awareness on the latest research on corporal punishment.

"The results show physical punishment doesn't have the impact parents think it does and want," says Dale. "While children may at first comply, over the long term it doesn't actually change the behaviors we're trying to change."

The case against Peterson stems from an incident last May at his home in Montgomery County, Texas, where he allegedly used a small tree branch called a switch to strike his four-year-old son, leaving the child with numerous cuts and bruises.

Peterson says he was "appropriately disciplining" his child, using the same techniques his parents used when he was a boy. Unfortunately, says Dale, the use of corporal punishment teaches kids that violence is an option.

"What the outcomes often are is children who've been disciplined physically are much more likely to use physical responses to solve their own problems with their peers and siblings," says Dale. "So when we use physical discipline, we're actually teaching kids that when we see something wrong, the way to address it is through hitting."

Peterson is currently free on $15,000 bond. If his case does go to trial, it likely wouldn't be until sometime next year.


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