Rishi Sunak has refused to amend the 'reasonable punishment' defence of the Children Act 2004, so we asked Mirror readers if they think smacking children should be banned
It is perverse that adults are legally protected from violence, yet striking a child can be defended. Calls for a ban are getting louder, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
Removing the “reasonable punishment” defence and prohibiting corporal punishment of children can help to reduce family violence, says Andrew Rowland
In England and Northern Ireland, we have a key opportunity to give children the equal protection from assault that they need, deserve, and are entitled to as a matter of international children’s rights law. A new Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) report, “Equal protection from assault in England and Northern Ireland,” sets out the case for the legislative change to remove the “reasonable punishment” defence and to prohibit all physical punishment of children.1 Changing the law around physical punishment could help protect children against abuse and could protect and promote their health, wellbeing, and early development.
Wales, Scotland, and over 60 other states around the world have already taken the necessary steps to prohibit physical punishment (as far back as 1979 in Sweden’s case). Yet in Englan
Pediatricians are urging Northern Ireland's politicians to remove the 'reasonable punishment defence' for the physical punishment of children from law.