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Ending the Physical Punishment of Children

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Title: Ending the Physical Punishment of Children


1
Ending the Physical Punishment of Children
  • Sdim Curo Plant! Children are Unbeatable! Cymru

2
What Children Say
  • It makes you feel sad (girl 8)?
  • It burns your bottom (boy 5)?
  • Its horriblepainful (girl 9)?
  • Feel like youre gonna die (girl 6)?
  • Feel ill (boy 6)?
  • Inside your body hurts (girl 6)?
  • (Children Talk About Smacking, SC 2003)?

3
Purpose of Presentation
  • To provide information on
  • the issue of physical punishment of children
  • The current legal position in the UK
  • Promote discussion answer questions
  • Discuss ways you or your organisation could
    support the No Physical Punishment message

4
'Sdim Curo Plant!Children Are Unbeatable!
  • Set up in 2000
  • Part of a UK wide campaign/alliance of
    individuals organisations
  • Campaigning for
  • 1. Legal change - removal of reasonable
    punishment defence
  • 2. Promotion of positive non violent methods of
    managing childrens behaviour - no physical
    punishment

5
Current Legal Position
  • Children are the only group of UK citizens who
    can be legally hit
  • reasonable punishment is a defence against a
    charge of common assault
  • reasonable chastisement is old common law
    defence dating back to 1860 which was replaced as
    part of the Children Act 2004, which came into
    force on Jan 15th 2005
  • 10 Welsh MPs voted for the clause (defeated)
    which would have given equal protection for
    children

6
Common assault for children is
  • The vulnerability of the victim, such as when the
    victim is..a child assaulted by an adult (so
    that where an assault causes any of the injuries
    referred to in sub-paragraph (vii) above, other
    than reddening of the skin, the charge will
    normally be assault occasioning actual bodily
    harm, although prosecutors must bear in mind that
    the definition of assault occasioning actual
    bodily harm requires the incident to be more than
    transient and trifling)

7
The Purpose of Legal Reform
  • Is to give children equal protection under the
    law as that enjoyed by adults
  • Is NOT to criminalize parents
  • Is to protect children
  • Is to promote healthy relationships
  • Is to reduce conflict within and outside the home
  • Is an example of using the law as an educational
    tool

8
Physical Punishment - a research definition
  • Corporal punishment is the use of physical force
    with the intention of causing a child to
    experience pain, but not injury, to correct or
    control his behaviour. This definition mentions
    the intention of causing a child to experience
    pain for 2 reasons. The first reason is to
    distinguish it from acts that have other purposes
    but that also may cause pain, such as putting
    antiseptic on a cut. The second reason is to make
    clear the fact that causing pain is intentional,
    not a side-effect.
  • (Strauss 1996)?

9
Research 1 Linking Physical Punishment and
Physical Abuse
  • Examples of growing evidence of a connection
  • NSPCC 1980-89 most prosecuted abuse began as
    ordinary punishment that went too far
  • Canadian incidence study 1993 85 of all
    substantial cases of abuse involved punishment
  • Durrants Swedish study 1999 after the ban on
    parental corporal punishment, child deaths at
    parents hands fell from 1 per year to 1 in seven
    years compared with 1 per week in the UK

10
Research 2 Effects of physical punishment - a
meta-analysis of 88 studies
  • Increased aggression as child adult
  • Less capacity for empathy
  • Less internalisation of moral aspects of
    discipline
  • Increased probability of antisocial criminal
    behaviour in adulthood including spousal and/or
    child abuse
  • Evidence of compromised mental health
  • Some increase in immediate compliance - least in
    ages 2-6 and amongst boys
  • (E.Thompson Gershoff, 2002)?

11
Research 3 Wide-ranging results of childhood
smacking
  • Five times the rate of non-compliance amongst
    toddlers
  • A four-fold increase in severe assaults on
    siblings
  • Double the rate of physical aggression amongst
    six-year olds against other children in school
  • Significantly more chance of 4-year olds failing
    to fulfil the cognitive potential they displayed
    at 1 year
  • An 84 increase in the likelihood of violent
    behaviour in adolescence
  • (Various)?

12
Research 4 Positive effects of not using or
of giving up physical punishment
  • Where ADHD aggression co-exist, changing
    violent/coercive home discipline deals with the
    conduct disorder.
  • (Paterson 2001)?
  • The only children whose aggressive conduct was
    not improved by a special programme were those
    whose mothers used violent discipline at home.
  • (Webster Stratton 2001)?

13
Context 1 United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child
  • 191 countries have ratified. UK in 1991
  • Article 19 - protect from physical
    violencemaltreatment..from parents, guardians,
    carers
  • Article 24 - take measures to abolish..
    traditional practices prejudicial to the health
    of children

14
Context 2 Europe
  • European Convention on Human Rights
  • Article 3 - no one shall be subjected to
    inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment
  • 1998 - A-v-UK Case, UK found in breach of
    Article 3
  • European Social Charter
  • Article 17 requires a prohibition in
    legislation against any form of violence against
    children

15
Context 3 Other Countries
  • 23 Countries have introduced principled legal
    reform to ban smacking
  • Austria(1989) Bulgaria (2000) Costa Rica
    (2008)?
  • Croatia(1999) Cyprus(1994) Denmark(1997)
  • Finland(1983) Germany(2000) Greece (2006)
  • Hungary (2005) Iceland(2003) Israel(2000)
  • Latvia(1998) Netherlands (2007)? New Zealand
    2007)
  • Norway(1987) Portugal (2007) Romania (2004)
  • Spain (2007) Sweden(1979) Ukraine (2004)
  • Uruguay (2007) Venezuela (2007)?
  • http//www.endcorporalpunishment.org

16
Sweden
  • 1979 Sweden is first country to ban smacking
  • public support for physical punishment 53(1965)
    to 11 (1994)?
  • no increase in prosecutions
  • decreasing number of children into care
  • evidence of parents seeking help earlier
  • no increase in anti-social behaviours
  • (A Generation Without Smacking - SC 2000)?

17
What Children Say
  • It makes you feel sad (girl 8)?
  • It burns your bottom (boy 5)?
  • Its horriblepainful (girl 9)?
  • Feel like youre gonna die (girl 6)?
  • Feel ill (boy 6)?
  • Inside your body hurts (girl 6)?
  • (Children Talk About Smacking - SC 2003)?

18
Governments' Attitudes
  • Westminster say NO to change
  • WAG committed to legal change since Oct 02

19
Welsh Assembly Government
  • Non-devolved area of responsibility
  • WAG committed to legal change since Oct 02
  • First UK country to take principled stand
    consistently recognises
  • childrens rights (UNCRC),
  • a child protection issue
  • part of Domestic Abuse agenda
  • need for parental support
  • Numerous representations to Westminster
  • Keen to find ways to promote Assemblys stance

20
WAG Booklet
  • Booklet on Positive Parenting with the No
    Smacking message is being developed through
    Fforwm Magu Plant Raising Children Forum
  • To go with From Breakfast to Bedtime and Over
    the top behaviour..
  • http//www.childreninwales.org.uk/areasofwork/pare
    nting/forparents/booklets

21
Help at Hand Toolkit
  • A toolkit to change attitudes and behaviour
    around the physical punishment of children
  • Launched by SCP!CAU! in March 2008
  • Materials which can be used by a wide variety of
    groups and individuals
  • Web base toolkit with links to other resources,
    and activities and information sheets on the site
  • www.helpathandtoolkit.info

22
Hitting Children is wrong, and the law should say
so!
  • Physical Punishment
  • breaches childrens human rights
  • causes hurt harm
  • is ineffective
  • is domestic violence/abuse
  • gives out message might is right
  • adds to levels of violence in society

23
A Last Word for Children
  • A big person should not hit a small person, not
    anyone ever.
  • Amy, Age 6
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