Scotland has banned smacking as a form of punishment.
- The new law ensures that children have the same protection as adults against assault.
- Under the new rules, it will be illegal for parents to use physical punishment.
- Children’s minister Maree Todd: “It can never be reasonable to strike a child.”
Smacking is now illegal in Scotland.
Children’s minister Maree Todd commented on this new law:
I’m very pleased that Scotland has become the first part of the UK to legislate to ensure that children, without exception, have the same protection from assault as adults. This outdated defence has no place in a modern Scotland. It can never be reasonable to strike a child.
While many believe that this a necessary law, some disagree.
Scottish Greens MSP John Finnie, a former police officer, brought about the law and won the support of the SNP, Labour and Lib Dems as well as his own party and many children’s charities. However, Lad Bible reported that a group called Be Reasonable Scotland opposed the legislation. The group warns that this new law could mean that parents are prosecuted for “even the mildest physical discipline”. A spokesman for the group commented:
In the years ahead, loving parents who have had no contact with the authorities previously and who present no risk to their children will face stressful intervention, blacklisting on police databases and even criminal records for smacking. The majority of Scots see this as an injustice, not a positive change.
What do you think?
