Scotland is about to become the first country in the UK to make it a criminal offence for parents to smack their children.
Parents and carers are currently allowed to use “reasonable” physical force to discipline children, but the Scottish government has backed moves to give children the same protection from assault as adults. A ban on all physical punishment is expected to be overwhelmingly backed by the Scottish Parliament in a vote on Thursday afternoon.
Opponents of the ban say mild smacking does no long-term harm to a child, but many charities and educational psychologists disagree
In Scots Law, all physical attacks on adults can be treated as assault, but strangely enough, children do not have the same protection. This is because a person accused of assaulting of a child can
“claim a defence of “reasonable chastisement” or “justifiable assault” when they have used physical force as a form of discipline on children under the age of 16.”
A report published by a group of Scottish children’s charities in 2015 found that the physical punishment of children was more common in the UK than in similar countries such as the US, Canada, Italy, Germany and Sweden.
The researchers estimated that between 70% and 80% of parents in the UK have used physical punishment, with children aged between three and seven the most likely to be smacked.
