A video has been released by non-profit research center Child Trends, which looks at the effects of hitting children in the context of parenting. The video also talks about the growing body of research in this area.

While the video is called “Spanking as discipline is controversial”, we’ve chosen to call it out for what it is – assault. And as the UK introduces new legislation to address animal cruelty – which includes protection for animals who may be working in circuses – we have to wonder why the government is still silent on child assaults within the home.

Researching Reform’s position on child assaults is very clear. We have laws protecting adults from being hit – and those laws cover assaults by everyone including family members – so we must have equal protections for children.

Nothing excuses an assault on a child. Not their size. Not their actions.

Not their relationship to the person assaulting them.

Many thanks to professor Joan Durrant for sharing this video.

Over 600 written responses were submitted to a consultation launched by the Welsh Assembly’s Children, Young People and Education Committee on the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Bill.

The Bill aims “to abolish the common law defence of reasonable punishment so it is no longer available in Wales to parents or those acting in loco parentis as a defence to assault or battery against a child.”

If enacted, the legislation would remove the right of parents in Wales in both criminal and civil law to claim that smacking a child is a reasonable form of punishment.

The Committee is holding its final session on the Bill today and is expected to publish its report by 2nd August.

The move represents a shift in thinking around the world on smacking, as a growing body of research emerges showing that hitting a child can be hugely detrimental to their development.

Currently 54 countries have banned corporal punishment in all settings, including the family home.

The bill if ratified into law is highly unlikely to see swathes of parents being sent to jail. To date we have not come across any cases of parents being sent to prison for smacking their children in jurisdictions where smacking in the home is banned.

Instead, these provisions send out a message that children deserve the same rights in law that adults – and animals – enjoy, and allow us to access and harness better alternatives for setting boundaries within parenting.

Within the UK, Ireland was the first state to implement legislation banning smacking (a term we dislike because it downplays child assault and battery), which it did in 2015.

Scotland has also promised to incorporate similar legislation. The session held by the Scottish Parliament Equalities and Human Rights Committee on 6th June offers some very useful information while looking at the possibility of repealing the criminal defence to ‘justifiable assault’ of a child.

The Lord Advocate The Rt Hon. James Wolffe, QC., and Anne Marie Hicks, the National Procurator Fiscal for Domestic Abuse took part in the session. Hicks’ department made the news last month after a man from Glasgow became the first person to be convicted under new Scottish domestic abuse legislation which came into force on 1st April.

On June 6, the Scottish Parliament Equalities and Human Rights Committee heard from the Lord Advocate and the  National Procurator Fiscal for Domestic Abuse. They addressed questions from the Committee regarding prosecutorial policies in light of the possible repeal of the criminal defence to ‘justifiable assault’ of a child.  Their answers are very informative and useful for any common law countries considering law reform.

England continues to ignore repeated calls for legislation banning the defence of reasonable chastisement of children in the home.

Very many thanks to Professor Joan Durrant and the Global Initiative for sharing the development with Researching Reform.

Map source: Global Initiative To End All Corporate Punishment Of Children

ACEs Connection, a social network that helps communities develop the global Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) science movement has launched a new campaign called #AMillionVoicesToEndHitting #UseYours. The campaign is supported by The US Alliance to End the Hitting of Children, the NY Foundling Institute, the American Professional Society of Abuse of Children, StopSpanking.org. 

The campaign also includes a video which features adults and children talking about corporal punishment.

Another new campaign launched this week aims to end violence in schools so that children can learn without fear. The campaign, which is called #SafetoLearn has been organised by The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and has already led to Sierra Leone’s Minister of Education Alpha O Timbo endorsing the Call to Action and committing to making all schools safe. The Partnership has offered some further reading on the subject, including a UNESCO report called “Behind the numbers: ending school violence and bullying”, and the Partnership’s latest report on corporal punishment around the world.

At Researching Reform we are passionate about ending corporal punishment around the world, and humbled to be a member of The Global Partnership To End Violence Against Children.

The Partnership features a large network of countries, government officials, organisations and academics who share information with one another, and our Round Up this week comes from this collective, which is headed up by Professor Joan Durrant. 

Sperius Eradius, who was thirteen, died in Tanzania after being beaten at school by a teacher. His death has caused an outcry amongst the country’s child welfare campaigners, who are now urging the government to end the use of corporal punishment in schools. No call though, seems to have been made to end corporal punishment at home. Tanzania is one of a small number of African countries where corporal punishment is allowed in every setting. Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, has also publicly stated his support for caning children.

Equally worrying is the re-instatement of corporal punishment in Georgia, after a school in Hephzibah sent consent forms to parents to allow the use of paddling as a form of punishment for students.

Reports from CBS news suggest that about 100 parents sent back the forms, while one-third gave the school consent to paddle their children. Paddling is currently allowed in several states in America, including:

1. Wyoming
2. Colorado
3. Arizona
4. Kansas
5. Ohio
6. Idaho
7. Indiana
8. North Carolina
9. South Carolina
10. New Mexico
11. Florida
12. Kentucky
13. Missouri
14. Texas

Dr Tracie Afifi, who is a member of The Global Partnership To End Violence Against Children, recently spoke to the CTV news channel to explain how corporal punishment negatively affects children. The interview has been viewed over 2,000 times.

Both in America and the UK, an adult slapping or hitting another adult, is illegal. Notwithstanding the context of self defense, that act is still considered illegal if:

• The adult being hit is related to the hitter
• The adult doing the hitting feels somehow justified by their actions
• The adult being hit can’t speak, or experiences partial awareness due to a disability

And that last point is incredibly important. If a person was being prosecuted for hitting a vulnerable adult, that would not be viewed as a mitigating factor, but an aggravating one. To take the view then, that hitting a child is somehow an exception, flies in the face of common sense, and all that we consider important and urgent about the law. 

There is absolutely no rational justification for hitting a child. 

The latest research on corporal punishment of children suggests that professional organisations are increasingly of the view that all physical punishment of children should be stopped.

The paper published in March 2017 and featured on the Marriage And Family Review, is a critique of an earlier piece of research entitled “Children and Parents Deserve Better Parental Discipline Research: Critiquing the Evidence for Exclusively “Positive” Parenting. The paper attacks the earlier publication for being flawed, and whilst the two papers represent an academic struggle between researchers they both make for interesting reading.

If you would like to read the papers in full please leave a comment below this post and we will forward them on to you.

A very big thank you to Professor Joan Durrant for sharing this research with us.

For anyone interested in ending corporal punishment of children, The Global Partnership To End Violence Against Children offers information and ways to get involved. Follow them on Twitter at @GPToEndViolence, hash tag #EndViolence.