my girlfriends kid was bad and needs to be punished, How should I handle it ?

I read a newspaper article recently and it seems this guy boarded a kid in a doghouse, taunted him and blew cigarette smoke thru the ventholes.. When the police arrived the PERP was sitting on top of the doghouse and the kid was screaming and crying to be let out.. Now I'm no Dr Spock but this seems like child abuse to me, So dont go to those extremes.. Maybe you could try something a little less drastic like hanging the kid upside down in a dark closet for a few hours.. At least this way the neighbors wont hear the kid crying and call police..