[corin_]

If you (and the rest of the world) have a policy of spanking your spouse unless they do X, and then you find out that they faked X, then sure spank away. There's a difference between taking away a reward which wasn't deserved and giving a punishment for not deserving that reward.

(Not to mention, the majority of the world does work with penal systems to try to prevent crime, so agree or disagree with this method, it is currently the norm.)