Most of the kids that go wrong have been smacked -

Empty statistic in my eyes, totally meaningless unless you can make an argument for the corrolary that most of the people who go right (whatever that means) have never been touched.

We had a neighbor with a child that she refused to discipline with anything more than a time out. He'd abuse the other children (hitting, biting, etc.) sit out his five or ten minutes and then go right on back to his anti-social behaviors.

I'm not saying that people should beat their children but a good smack on the ass isn't a problem with me.

And as far as that goes I was spanked as a child and I'm a good productive member of society, not on welfare, not sitting in a jail cell or worse. I believe that makes me a deviation from your hypothesis. and what about the leftover bad people who weren't smacked?