This story was originally published by ProPublica. Whether schoolchildren in DeSoto County, Mississippi, are paddled varies by their race. Black students are almost two and a half times more likely than whites to endure the corporal punishment permitted under school district policy for skipping class, insubordination, repeated tardiness, flagrant dress code violations, or other misbehavior: up to three “licks per incident on the buttocks with an appropriate instrument approved by the principal.” Black students in DeSoto—a suburban area just south of Memphis, Tennessee—are also more prone to face other forms of school discipline.