Parents should be banned from smacking their children to stop long-term damage, doctors say.
A report in the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said that current laws in England and Northern Ireland are “unjust and dangerously vague”.
They said it was a “scandal” that Scotland and Wales had outlawed smacking – as they did in 2020 and 2022 respectively – and the other two home nations had not followed suit.
A loophole in the laws currently allows parents to use physical force against children if it can be justified as “reasonable punishment”.
Doctors say that smacking a child as corporal punishment should be banned in England and Northern Ireland
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The report said that children are more likely to suffer from poor mental health when they are smacked, condemning the practice as “a complete violation of children’s rights”.
It added that children who had been hit performed worse in school and were more likely to be physically assaulted or abused.
Professor Andrew Rowland, a consultant paediatrician and RCPCH officer for child protection, said: “The laws around physical punishment as they stand are unjust and dangerously vague.
“They create a grey area in which some forms of physical punishment may be lawful, and some are not.”
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The doctors want Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, to change the law before the upcoming general election, which is expected later this year.
“Changing the laws in England and Northern Ireland will give us absolute clarity and ensure there are no instances where it is acceptable or lawful to smack a child,” Rowland said.
“Research and history show us that violence is often cyclical in nature, it is up to us as adults to break that cycle for our children.”
Rowland said he sees children frequently at his clinic who have been hit by a parent, with many of them being beaten with implements ranging from a spoon to a laptop charger.
“I’ve seen this happen to children aged two to 18. This is wrong for all children, no matter what the circumstances and it leaves them upset, angry and confused. It shouldn’t happen.”
The report said that children are more likely to suffer from poor mental health when they are smacked
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Over 60 countries worldwide, including Scotland and Wales, have outlawed corporal punishment of children, whilst 27 others have committed to following suit.
The report claims that in countries such as Germany and Sweden, there has been a notable reduction in the number of children being hit at home.
The NSPCC backed the doctor’s call. “All children deserve the same protection from assaults as adults,” said Joanna Barrett, the charity’s associate head of policy.
“In England and Northern Ireland, children continue to be exposed to a legal loophole that can undermine their basic right to protection under the guise of ‘reasonable chastisement’,” she said.
Bess Herbert, an advocacy specialist at the international campaigning organisation End Corporal Punishment, said: “I hope that England and Northern Ireland will soon join the ever-growing number of countries that have taken this fundamental step in protecting children, upholding their rights, and supporting healthy and positive child raising.”