Smacking ban could lead to rise in rape, says US expert

‘Never learn to accept no’

BANNING smacking risks a rise in rapes in Scotland, a leading US academic has claimed.

Human development expert Professor Robert Larzelere said such a ban would create boys who ‘never learn to accept no from their mothers’.

He cited research suggesting rapes in Sweden rose dramatically in the generation after it became the first country to outlaw smacking, in 1979.

In a report to MSPs on Holyrood’s equalities committee, Professor Larzelere said there was a 73-fold increase in attempted rapes on children between 1981 and 2010.

He added: ‘Some of this 73fold increase is likely because a small but increasing number of boys never learn to accept no from their mothers or others objecting to what they want.’

Questioned by the equalities committee yesterday, he said: ‘If I were a parent in Scotland and I had a baby girl this next year, I’d want to be convinced that she would not, when she grew up, have a ten times greater risk of being raped before she is 15 years of age.’

Lib Dem Alex Cole-Hamilton asked if, as a father of two boys who had not been smacked, he should be anxious about their propensity to rape.

Professor Larzelere said ‘wellmanaged’ children do not need to be smacked, while parents of those who ‘push the limits’ need something to back up other options.

Smacking will be banned in Scotland under a private member’s Bill the SNP Government has confirmed it intends to support, meaning the legislation will be passed.