S v Williams and Others 1995 (2) SACR 251 (CC)

Findings: The issue is whether the sentence of juvenile whipping, pursuant to the provisions of section 294 of the Criminal Procedure Act, This case involved six juveniles who had been sentenced to receive "moderate correction" of a number of strokes with a light cane in terms of section 294 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977. The Constitutional Court had to decide whether the sentence of juvenile whipping was unconstitutional. The Court declared corporal punishment unconstitutional on the ground that it violates dignity and it violates the right not to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way. It found that juvenile whipping violated the dignity of the juvenile as well as that of the person administering the whipping. The Constitutional Court declared section 294 unconstitutional. The effect of this is that whipping is no longer a punishment that the courts may impose.