Current topic: The physical punishment of children
Open Access
- 1 September 2000
- journal article
- review article
- Published by BMJ in Archives of Disease in Childhood
- Vol. 83 (3) , 196-198
- https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.83.3.196
Abstract
It is important to know what is meant by the terms “mild” or “severe” “physical punishment”, “smacking”, “spanking”, etc. Paul Boateng, responding as Health Minister to the European Court of Human Rights' ruling on a case of repeated beating of a young English boy by his stepfather, said that “Any case of serious violence against a child ... would horrify parents”. However, he went on to say that “... this has nothing to do with the issue of smacking. The overwhelming majority of parents know the difference between smacking and beating.”1 Mr Boateng's confidence is misplaced. Juries, in a string of recent UK cases, have acquitted parents who have hit children with whips, canes, riding crops, electric flexes, belts, and other implements, causing severe bruising, wheals, and cuts.2Keywords
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