Smacking law comes into force

Saturday, 15 January 2005 12:00 AM

Parents who smack their children hard enough to leave a mark, will face up to five years in prison under new laws which come into force on Saturday.

Under the new rules, parents are permitted to use "reasonable chastisement" to discipline their children, but those who give their offspring anything other than a mild smack could find themselves before the courts.

Parents who administer any punishment which causes bruises, grazes, scratches, minor swelling or cuts could be charged with common assault.

Child protection charity, the NSPCC says the new law will confuse parents and is calling for a total ban on smacking.

"There is a risk parents may choose to hit children on parts of their body where injury is less visible, such as the head, which can cause serious harm," said NSPCC boss Mary Marsh.

"Defining acceptable ways to hit children should become a thing of the past. It should be just as wrong to hit a child as it is to hit an adult," she added.

But a spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills stressed that the new laws were a "common sense" decision to balance child protection with the autonomy of parents.

"The Government has sent a clear message to parents that they will not be criminalised for bringing up their children in a supportive disciplinary environment and are able to consider smacking as part of that," said the spokeswoman.

"This common sense decision balances the essential need for children to be protected with the right of parents not to have Government interfering in family life."

The new measures were passed in the Children Act last November, when 47 Labour MPs rebelled against the Government and pressed for a total ban on smacking.

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