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Children are unbeatable
Author(s) -
Freeman Michael
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/j.1099-0860.1999.tb00114.x
Subject(s) - corporal punishment , law , jurisprudence , political science , convention , autonomy , kingdom , human rights , intervention (counseling) , convention on the rights of the child , punitive damages , punishment (psychology) , scots law , international law , criminology , sociology , psychology , sources of law , social psychology , paleontology , psychiatry , biology
The European Court on Human Rights has recently held that the law in the United Kingdom, which allows reasonable corporal punishment to be administered by parents, gives insufficient protection to children. Is the answer to distinguish between inhuman or degrading punishment (for example, with an implement) and ordinary safe smacks or is it to outlaw corporal chastisement by parents altogether? The author argues for the latter which he shows is in line with developments in European jurisprudence. It is also argued that the United Kingdom law is in breach of a number of international law norms, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. And, far from this proposal leading to greater intervention into the family, it is argued that the removal of the parental right to smack will lead to less abuse and therefore less interference with parental autonomy. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.