Did Delaware Ban Spanking, Inching Towards the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child? Did Delaware just ban spanking? A new law protecting children against child abuse is so non-specific as to appear to take in almost any type of corporal punishment, including spanking. Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware signed Bill 234 into law on September 12. The problem in the way the new Delaware law is written comes from the following phrase in the law: “Abuse” means causing any physical injury to a child. . . “Physical injury” to a child shall mean any impairment of physical condition or pain. The word “pain” is very general and takes in almost anything. When laws are written using general terms, it gives greater freedom to the government to interpret however they wish.