frogblog

Save the Children’s John Bowls has an op-ed in the Herald supporting Sue B’s Section 59 Bill. It reads, in part:

Let’s be clear and repeal section 59 to stamp out any possibility of physical punishment leading to child abuse and give the police the opportunity to prosecute where warranted. They are not likely to be concerned about a simple smack.

Ten countries in Europe have already changed laws so that physical punishment of children is not allowed. There is no evidence at all from these countries that police prosecute for this kind of minor assault. Child-abuse deaths have dropped, and few parents now feel that physical punishment of children is acceptable.

That last paragraph is the crucial one. What effect will this law change have? The best way to answer that question is to look at overseas experience. People talking about the theoretical possibility of police raiding houses up and down the country finding parents who have tapped their kids’ hands for playing in traffic really ought to be able to point to an example of that happening overseas. Go on! Point to examples! Parade before us some persecuted parents! Perhaps the reason we haven’t heard any examples is that they don’t exist…

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