Ending the Physical Punishment of Children

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Ending the Physical Punishment of Children

• Sdim Curo Plant! Children are Unbeatable! Cymru

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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)?

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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

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'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

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The Priority for this Group
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SCP! CAU! Supporters

• 45 groups/agencies including
• Royal College of Paediatrics Child Health
• North South Wales Child Protection Forums
• 4 ACPCs
• 7 Womens Aid Groups Welsh Womens Aid
• 400 individuals including
• 27 Welsh Assembly Members
• 12 MPs
• Childrens Commissioner

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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, came into force on
  Jan 15th 2005
• 10 Welsh MPs voted for the clause (defeated)
  which would have given equal protection for
  children

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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)

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Why Legal Reform? (1)?

• Cases since the Human Rights Act October 2000
• Father hit 4 year old. son across the back with a
  belt 3times, causing bruising, for not being
  able to write his name acquitted reasonable
  chastisement (2001)?
• Father hit 12 year old. girl in the face -
  swelling and difficulty in moving her jaw. I did
  it for her own good. I know how to take a mans
  head offIt was a small slap. Acquitted. Judge
  said his actions were wholly justifiable (2001)?

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Why Legal Reform? (2)?

• The Crown Prosecution Service indicated 12 cases
  between January 2005 and February 2007 where the
  defence of Reasonable Punishment had been used.
  These had usually resulted in acquittal or
  discontinuance.

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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

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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)?

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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

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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)?

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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)?

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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)?

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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

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Context 2 United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child

• UN Committee on CRC 2nd Report on UK
• with urgency remove reasonable chastisement
  defence prohibit all corporal punishment in the
  family
• promote positive, participatory and non-violent
  forms of discipline and respect for childrens
  equal right to human dignity and physical
  integrity
• (October 2002)?

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Context 2 United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (continued)

• On 2 June 2006, the UN Committee on the Rights of
  the Child issued a General Comment on The
  right of the child to protection from corporal
  punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of
  punishment. The authoritative Committee
  emphasizes that eliminating violent and
  humiliating punishment of children, through law
  reform and other necessary measures, is an
  immediate and unqualified obligation for states
  which have ratified the Convention on the Rights
  of the Child.

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Context 2 United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (continued)?

• The above UN general comment followed the report
  of the United Nations Secretary-General's Study
  on Violence against Children (August 2006) which
  called on all countries to prohibit all corporal
  punishment in the family, at school and
  everywhere else by 2009.

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Context 3 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

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Context 4 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

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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)?

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Public Opinion

• 58 support law reform if sure parents not
  prosecuted for trivial smacks
• 97 say parents should not be allowed to
  physically punish babies (under 18 mths)
• Parents hit themselves more likely to use
  physical punishment (70)
• 79 parents feel upset after hitting their child
• 40 parents think smacking is ineffective
• P. Cawson, Child Maltreatment in the Family,
  NSPCC, 2002.

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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)?

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Governments' Attitudes

• Westminster say NO to change
• WAG committed to legal change since Oct 02

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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

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Wales Steps (1)?

• Feb 02 Welsh Childminding Regulations no
  physical punishment
• Sept 02 Extended Definition of Domestic
  Violence agreed
• Oct 02 WAG statement against the physical
  punishment of children in favour of legal
  reform
• Oct 02 onwards WAG representations to
  Westminster e.g letters to ministers, response to
  Safety Justice Consultation, response to Every
  Child Matters consultation
• Jan 04 41 X-Party AMs support legal reform
  (Childrens Bill debate)?

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Wales Steps (2)?

• Jan 04 Fact-finding visit to Sweden with Welsh
  MPs
• Throughout 04 extensive lobbying in
  Westminster and Wales to increase support for
  achieving equal protection in the Children Act
  2004
• Feb 04 Rights Into Action published
• Oct 04 National Service Framework for
  Children, Young People and maternity Services in
  Wales published-
• Suggesting appropriate methods for managing
  childrens behaviour that support the Welsh
  Assembly Governments views that physical
  punishment of children is unacceptable. No. 2.48
  p 28
• Tackling domestic Violence All Wales Strategy
  2005
• Dec 05 Parenting Action Plan

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Wales Steps (3)?

• 2004 Powys Positive Parenting Alternatives
  to Smacking Conference, exhibition, leaflet, work
  with parents
• 2003 Listening to Children in
  Pembrokeshire
• Pembrokeshire CP Pembrokeshire CC
• January 2005 Hitting people is wrong
  Seminar,
• Torfaen C YP framework partnership

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Llansawel Research

• Help at Hand May 06
• A week of activities promoting alternatives to
  smacking children
• Multi-agency, instigated by CAU!
• Activities across the community
• Funded by WAG
• Report, briefing and executive summary available

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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

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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 based toolkit with links to other resources,
  and activities and information sheets on the
  site.
• www.helpathandtoolkit.info

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Other Developments (1)

• 2003 Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human
  Rights
• Report on the UN Convention on the Rights of the
  Child
• - the lack of respect that the defence of
  reasonable chastisement embodies for children s
  entitlement to be free from physical assault is
  unnacceptable. the time has come for the
  Government To act
• 2003 House of Commons Health Committee
• Report on the Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report
• - we urge the Government to remove the
  increasingly anomalous reasonable chastisement
  defence

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Other Developments (2)

• 2003 Home Office White Paper on Domestic
  Violence (Safety Justice) Government urged
  to
• Extend the definition of d.v. to include
  children
• Act to remove reasonable chastisement defence
• SCP/CAU! Cymru said the continued existence of
  the reasonable chastisement defence in respect
  of assaults on children is a fatal flaw in any
  cohesive effective strategy to prevent
  domestic violence and a state commitment to Zero
  Tolerance. If Government continues to publicly
  endorse parental responsibility that can include
  hitting children, then the message about domestic
  violence is very confused Zero Tolerance But
  Not for Children

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The Government Review of Section 58 October 2007

• When Section 58 was introduced, a review was
  promised after 2 years.
• Responses were invited the Government also
  carried out surveys of parents and of children.
• There was overwhelming support for legal change,
  except from the survey of parents.
• The government said it Will retain the law in
  its current form in the absence of evidence it is
  not working satisfactorily.

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What can you do?

• Become active - what do you need?
• Sign up yourself
• Sign up your organisation
• Sign up someone else
• Sign up another organisation

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What can your organisation do?

• Work with your client group
• Make the issue part of the everyday work
• Train others
• Publicity press involvement
• Provide, share or develop information
• Evidence or Research
• Provide or Develop Resources

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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

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SCP!CAU Supporters

• Kidzone Trust
• Law yn Llaw
• Local Aid
• Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin
• National Childminding Association Wales
• National Playbus Association
• National Youth Advocacy Service
• NCH Cymru
• NCMA
• NSPCC Cymru
• North Wales Child Protection Forum
• Play Wales
• Princess of Wales Hospital
• Rhondda Cynon Taff ACPC
• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
  Wales
• Rhymney Valley Women's Aid
• Save the Children Cymru
• South Wales Child Protection Forum
• Swansea Student Community Action

• Aberconwy Women's Aid
• Bangor District Women's Aid
• Barnardo's Cymru
• BAWSO Women's Aid
• Blaenau Ffestiniog Women's Aid
• Bridgend District Resource for
• Children with Disabilities
• Bridgend Sure Start
• Buttle Trust in Wales
• Cardiff CC Children's Play Services
• Cardigan Women's Aid
• Cardiff Womens Safety Unit
• Cardiff Womens Aid
• Carers Wales
• Carmarthenshire Youth Child. Assoc.
• Cartref Bontnewydd
• Children in Wales
• Childrens Commissioner for Wales office
• Child Safe Wales

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A Last Word for Children

• A big person should not hit a small person, not
  anyone ever.
• Amy, Age 6