UK doctors urge to stop physical punishment against children
On April 17th, the UK’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) published a report calling for legislative changes in England and Northern Ireland, where parents can still use the defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ to justify physically punishing a child in certain circumstances, RIA Novosti reports
“Children are the only group of people in England and Northern Ireland who are not fully protected from physical assault, which has a significant negative impact on children,” the RCPCH report reads.
According to the authors of the publication, currently in England and Northern Ireland, a parent can use the defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ to justify physically punishing a child in certain circumstances, e.g., by slapping, smacking, or hitting.
Paediatricians are calling on legislators to follow the example of Scotland and Wales, where there are no similar gaps in the law and parents cannot use ‘reasonable punishment’ as an excuse to avoid prosecution and trial.
