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| First Minister Mark Drakeford |
Parents smacking their children now considered a criminal offence in Wales
Outline:
- What is ‘smacking’?
- What role does ‘smacking’ play in the upbringing of children?
- Wales and the new law
- Reactions from Welsh citizens
What is ‘smacking’?
This is the act of striking someone or something typically with the palm of the hand as a disciplinary action or measure or punishment. Other words for it include: slap, hit, strike, spank, thwack, whack etc.
What role does ‘smacking’ play in the upbringing of children?
Smacking is a sort of 'physical punishment' given to kids as caution for their misconduct. Parenting as we know is not an easy job as children can be quite a handful hence punishment must be a routine action to set them on the right track.
Some parents do not subscribe to the use of whips or rods as obtainable in Africa and some regions of the world, so, they would rather spank their kids from time to time to serve as a deterrent in subsequent times.
There are various disciplinary measures that parents employ such as:
- Flogging
- Shouting at/yelling
- Physical punishment e.g. kneeling down, grounding etc.
- Suspending the child’s allowances or restricting certain liberties granted the child e.g. hanging out with friends etc.
All of the above measures have their effects but it differs from child to child and parent-parent.
Wales and the ‘new law’
First Minister Mark Drakeford said it was a ‘historic day’ for children as Wales becomes the second UK nation to ban physical punishment. The legal defence of reasonable punishment has been removed, so anyone who ‘smacks’ a child in their care could be arrested and prosecuted for assault.
Critics or Conservatives claim ‘the new law’ was pushed through ‘by those who think they know better than parents’.
- Sweden became the first country in the world to ban physical punishment of children in 1979 and it is now illegal in 63 nations around the world.
- Jersey was the first part of the British isles to ban smacking in April 2020.
- Scotland became the first UK nation to make it illegal in November 2020.
The welsh government said it was a ‘historic moment for children and their rights in Wales’ and means children would have the same rights as adults.
In a survey of 3,000 adults in England, the NSPCC found that 64% think it is also time to change the law there and ban smacking, while 68% said it is unacceptable.
Ministers in Cardiff said they wanted to give children ‘the best start in life’ and the new law means people will be committing a crime if they smack, hit, slap or shake a child in their care.
The Government said it wasn’t possible to give ‘a set of list of what makes up physical punishment’ because it could be ‘anything where a child is punished using physical force’.
The new law will apply to parents or anyone who is responsible for a child while the parents are absent – and apply to all visitors in Wales.
Physical punishment is already illegal in schools, children’s homes, local authority foster care homes and childcare centers.
Hitting a child is ‘common assault’ but if a parent or someone with parental responsibility was charged with ‘common assault’ before Monday, they could have attempted to use the defence of ‘reasonable punishment’.
But from today, Monday, that defence is no longer valid in Wales so anyone who physically punishes a child will be ‘breaking the law’ and could get a ‘criminal record’.
People who see a child being physically punished have been advised by the Welsh government to either call the police if a child is in immediate danger or contact their local social services department.
Welsh Parliament Members voted 36 votes to 14 when it passed the law as of two years back.
What brought about the new law?
What prompted ‘the ban’ was a campaign by children’s charities and politicians and Wales’ Deputy Social Services Minister Julie Morgan said she was ‘thrilled’ that children have the same protection from assault as adults.
Mr. Drakeford added that there was ‘no place for physical punishment in a modern Wales’ as he made welcome one of his flagship policies into law.
"The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child makes it clear that children have the right to be protected from harm and from being hurt and this includes physical punishment," he said.
"That right is now enshrined in Welsh law. No more grey areas. No more defence of reasonable punishment. That is all in the past."
Reactions from Welsh Citizens
Wales' children's commissioner said children now had "clear and unambiguous precedence and protection".
"As adults, we do not accept physical violence in any part of our lives," said Sally Holland.
"And as a nation we are clear today that we do not accept it in our children's lives either."
Plaid Cymru, which has a co-operation deal with the Welsh Labour government, backed giving children "equal protection against violence under the law".
NSPCC Cymru said it backed "positive parenting" while Barnardo's Cymru said it was "confident this legislation will drive forward the cultural change in parenting".
But members of the opposition group in the Welsh Parliament said they were "worried" it could create a "Stasi culture" in Wales - referring to the old East German secret police.
"The smacking ban is an unnecessary, unworkable and undesired law that was pushed through the Senedd by those who think they know better than parents," said Gareth Davies, the Welsh Conservatives' spokesman for social services.
"I am very worried about campaigns that encourage a Stasi culture in Wales where people - and children - are encouraged to shop parents, who discipline their children in what they deem a proportionate manner, to the police.
"This guidance flies in the face of the assurances that ministers gave to the Welsh people and there are justified concerns that the police will come under further pressure if the new regime leads to false claims and busybodies taking advantage.
"The Labour government in Cardiff Bay are clearly more interested in new age dogma rather than respecting parents."
Simon Calvert of Campaign group Be Reasonable, which opposes the ban, said it could "criminalize ordinary decent loving mums and dads for doing nothing more than our loving mums and dads did with us".
He added: "I think that some families will suffer unjustly as a result of this law and I think that we're going to see increasing calls in the years to come for this law to be revisited."
But one parenting blogger said it was "not as simple as 'the ban is right' or the 'ban is wrong'".
Claire Campbell-Adams of the Mum's Shoulders blog said it was "brilliant" that the ban closes "a loophole" so abusers can longer use the defence.
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| Blogger: Claire Campbell-Adams of the Mum's Shoulders blog |
But she is concerned it could make it more difficult for parents who need support to open up.
"If you take away the ability to sit and chat with your peers about it because you're afraid of being prosecuted for it then how is that going to help anybody?" said Ms Campbell-Adams from Newport.
She added parents should be offered help and relevant resources to understand how best to discipline their wards.
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