Scottish Parliament weighs ban on spanking toddlers

Associated Press

EDINBURGH, Scotland — Scotland’s ruling executive is pushing proposed rules that would make it illegal to spank toddlers.

Opposition politicians said Friday that the plans, which must be approved by the Scottish Parliament, violate parents’ rights. Children’s charities, meanwhile, charged the proposals did not go far enough.

The proposals, unveiled Thursday, would make it illegal to strike a child under 3 or to shake, strike with an implement or hit on the head a child of any age. It also would ban corporal punishment by child-sitters and in preschools and child care centers.

"While we believe that parents should have the rights to set the grounds for the discipline of their children, we felt there was a strong need for greater clarification of the law as to what is defined ‘reasonable’ punishment,’ " said Scotland’s Justice Minister, Jim Wallace.

Before the age of 3, "it is very doubtful that a child would understand why he or she was being punished," he added.

Kelly Bayes, Scottish policy officer for the children’s charity Barnardo’s, said Scotland should go further and join other European countries in banning physical punishment of children.

"Even a ‘little smack’ is intended to cause pain, and once a parent resorts to violence it is all a question of degree," she said.

Critics said the proposals would be cumbersome and restrict parents’ ability to discipline their children.

"Any measure which prevents parents from using reasonable punishment on their children can only add to the problem of juvenile delinquency and to disruption in the classrooms," said the Conservative Party’s spokeswoman on law and order issues, Ann Widdecombe.

The proposals are still a long way from becoming law. Wallace said only that they "could" be included in Scotland’s new Criminal Justice Bill. That legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament early next year and become law by the end of 2002.

Physical punishment of children is illegal in several European countries, including Sweden, Denmark and Austria. In Britain, parents may hit children if it constitutes "reasonable chastisement," and corporal punishment was banned from all schools only in 1998.