Friends push for child smacking ban
As part of a news round-up, Rebecca Hardy looks at the successful introduction of a smacking ban in Scotland
Quakers helped changed the law last year when Scotland became the first country in the UK to make it a criminal offence for parents to smack their children. The move came after Quakers in Scotland campaigned for the ban. In March, General Meeting for Scotland made a submission to the Equalities and Human Rights Committee about the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill welcoming the proposal. It said: ‘Quakers believe that nonviolence is something that needs… practice throughout a lifetime, and that the grounding for a nonviolent life starts in childhood.’
Mairi Campbell-Jack, the former Scottish parliamentary engagement officer for Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), called for more resources to be put into place as ‘violence never happens in a vacuum’. She tweeted: ‘Smacking isn’t the only issue children face, and resources need to be put into communities to help make children safe.’
Eighty-four MSPs voted in favour of banning outright the physical punishment of children in Scotland, after the Members’ Bill was lodged by the Scottish Green Party MSP John Finnie, who highlighted the damage which smacking is proven to do to children’s long-term mental health. The Bill, which was supported by the Scottish National Party government, removes the defence of ‘reasonable chastisement’ which exists in English law. Fifty-seven other counties already prohibit the physical punishment of children.
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