Let’s not beat around the bush - smacks are assault
Harriet Hall says that language is important in trying to curb physical punishment of children
During a recent radio debate, presenter Kaye Adams asked BBC Radio Scotland’s listeners if physical punishment of children should be described as assault. None of us should shy away from the answer – yes it should – because language matters.
In Scots law, it is a defence of ‘justifiable assault’ that enables parents and carers to use physical punishment. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has said there is: “no ambiguity” in their description of physical (or as they term it corporal) punishment as “physical and mental violence”.
So what does that mean for those of us, who as parents, children or both have experienced and/or used physical punishment?
Let’s start by acknowledging that it can be uncomfortable to describe what used to be such a common parenting practice as assault. But just because it’s uncomfortable that shouldn’t stop us from taking action, if we want to live in a country free from all forms of violence.
It’s not so long ago that parents would squeeze children into the back, or even boot, of a car without seatbelts or we’d light up a cigarette on the bus. As a child of the 1980s, these are experiences I remember well. But times have changed and my own children have no such experiences.
The cultural shifts that mean we no longer cram children into a car boot or smoke in public places came about through a combination of growing public understanding of the damaging impact of these practices, behavioural change and legisla- tion. Where legislation was introduced it was designed to hasten those cultural shifts, not to criminalise people for smoking or for failing to use seatbelts.
Today, we know far more about the negative impact physical punishment can have on children and on their relationship with their parents or carers. Substantive international reviews of the evidence, most recently by the American psychologist Elizabeth Gershoff have shown “no evidence that spanking does any good for children and all evidence that it does harm”.
We’ve also seen changes in parents’ behaviour – the number of young people in the UK reporting regular physical punishment in childhood declined from 10 per cent in 1998 to 2.8 per cent in 2009. There is clear evidence from 52 countries that have already prohibited physical punishment that this does not lead to increased criminalisation of parents.
While the Scottish Government has ambitions to create a fair, violent-free Scotland, they have yet to remove the defence in Scots law that gives children less protection from assault.
Children learn from what they live. If we shy away from describing physical punishment as assault, or continue talking about a ‘loving smack’ or ‘light tap’, it trivialises what amounts to a fundamental injustice in Scottish law and culture – the idea that it’s OK for a big person to hit a small person to resolve a problem. That cannot be acceptable in a Scotland that strives to be fair, equal and just. ● Harriet Hall is communications and engagement manager at Children 1st.