Criminalising smacking may send a message that physical punishment of a child is unacceptable, but I suspect it will do more to criminalise parents who are not guilty of any serious offence, while doing nothing to prevent the horrendous harm that is suffered by Sara and her like (“A society that abhors child cruelty should not tolerate any physical punishment of children”).
When services that support vulnerable families are cut to the bone, and families with young children are experiencing unprecedented levels of physical, emotional and material stress due to austerity measures and the prolonged period of governmental consideration of only the wealthy in society, we should not be surprised at the consequent abhorrent results of social breakdown.
Melanie Savage
Nottingham
