Wales has today followed Scotland in introducing a ban on hitting a child as a form of punishment. On Monday, Wales abolished “reasonable chastisement” as a defence for smacking.
It comes after University College London analysed 20 years of research on the topic alongside a team of international experts and concluded that any form of physical punishment was harmful to children and had no benefit. The research showed that it did not improve children’s behaviour and, in fact, increased behavioural difficulties, such as aggression and anti-social behaviour.
Children who are physically punished are also at increased risk of being subjected to more severe violence, the research found. The NSPCC is calling on the UK Government to follow Wales’ lead so that it is illegal to use a defence of “reasonable punishment” for hitting a child.
