EPOCH New Zealand

15 November 2011

In the United States widespread publicity about the deaths of three children “disciplined to death” has heightened public debate about the place a physical discipline in child rearing.  A YouTube video published by a young woman beaten as a teenager has also attracted attention   CNN has run a series of discussions on physical punishment and posted relevant articles.

While most physical discipline does not involve harsh beatings the use of any physical punishment is usually justified by the notion that infliction of pain to correct a child’s behaviour is acceptable, desirable and effective.  It is encouraging to see that internationally this notion is being challenged by parents and parent educators. Increasingly too, religious leaders are challenging interpretations of the Bible that are used to justify inflicting pain on a child. In the United States physical punishment of children is still legal in the home in all states and “paddling” is still legal in schools in a number of states.

14 November 2011

The Global Initiative e-newsletter Issue 18 (October 2011) is now available here.

6 November 2011

A report ‘FIVE YEARS ON: A GLOBAL UPDATE ON VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN’ (6.14MB) from the UN NGO Advisory Council was released on 18th October 2011.This report summarizes the state of violence against children in the five years since the release of the UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Children. Peter Newell (Global Initiative to End Corporal Punishment of Children) was among the International NGO Representatives.

New Zealand is mentioned a number of times in the report.

19 October 2010

A cross party group of politicians has moved a motion to bring about a debate to end to the defence of “legal chastisement”  If this motion succeeds in changing the law Wales would be the first of the UK countries to ban smacking.  In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the defence of “reasonable chastisement” has been removed for more serious assaults on children but is retained for the offence of “common assault”.   In Scotland the law changed in 2003 to ban hitting on the head, shaking or punishing with a belt, cane or other implement but a defence remains for more minor assaults on children.

The smacking motion is the first to be discussed under a new system of member-led debates that is being trialed in the Welsh Assembly.

Update: 20 October 2010:

The motion in the Wales National  Assembly urging the Government of Wales to remove the "reasonable  punishment" defence was agreed on 20 October 2010 by 24 votes in favour, 15  against and 13 abstentions.  Gwenda Thomas, deputy minister for children and social services, told the Senedd that although the Government believed hitting children was wrong, there would be no such law introduced in the current Assembly term "... which lasts up to  2016.

1 October 2011

Ninth Review of Police activity since enactment of the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007.

The NZ Police have released results of the 9^th review of relevant Police activity since enactment of the 2007 law. This covers the period 22 December 2010 to 21^st June 2011.  Results of this review are consistent with previous reviews indicating that that the police implement the law sensitively.  The interventions made by police appear to uphold the principle that any assault on a child is unacceptable in law but in the main,  police hve chosen to warn offenders or refer them to another organisation for assistance thus avoiding the distress a Court appearance would cause to a family.  The number of cases reported in the “smacking” category remain low and there are relatively few prosecutions in either the “smacking” or the “minor act of physical discipline” category.   Where cases are prosecuted (9 in this period) guilty pleas or guilty findings do not result in harsh sentences. Outcomes range from “supervision” to “discharge without conviction” or a requirement “to come before the Court again if called upon over a nine month period”. 

Of note in this review is the fact that there has been an increase in the number of incident sreported in the “minor act of physical discipline” category since reviews began in 2007 and a significant increase in the “other child assault” category.   The summary of the Report says “There is an increase in the number of events attended by police during this review period which is consistent with reduced tolerance and increased reporting of child assault events”.  It is significant that all the “minor acts of physical discipline” cases prosecuted the assaults involved slaps to the child’s face or head.  The offender in the one smacking category case, which involved slapping on the buttocks with an open hand, had a prior history of assault according to a Police media release.