PARENTS should be banned from smacking their kids

Punish parents for smacking - academic | Todays News Highlights | News.com.au

The Daily Telegraph

December 11, 2008 07:12am


* Smacking should be illegal, academic says
* Under common law reasonable force allowed
* Professor says bans have worked elsewhere

PARENTS should be banned from smacking their kids - and be prosecuted if the child is harmed, a leading academic said.

Smacking of children by parents is currently legal under the common law, as long as reasonable force is used and the sole intention is to correct behaviour.

But Sydney University Associate Professor Judy Cashmore wants the defence struck out, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Parents would thus be liable to prosecution for smacking but she said it was unlikely any would be charged unless real harm was done.

Smacking involving force or leaving lasting physical effects is already an abuse under child protection laws.

Professor Cashmore will tell an Australian Institute of Family Studies seminar in Melbourne today that Australia should follow the lead of New Zealand and remove the common law defence.
From no punishment as a child to no punishment as an adult. No wonder our society is like it is. All the do gooders, civil righters. law makers etc have really let us all down. P...

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kazbowa of tapping

Smacking has already been banned in a number of European and South American countries including The Netherlands, Iceland, Germany, Bulgaria, Sweden and Costa Rica.

However, these bans have not led to any increase in the number of parents being prosecuted for smacking their children.

Professor Cashmore said removing the common law defence puts smacking of children on the same footing as the hitting of adult.

"I would expect that police will not take action unless there is not real harm done," she said.