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Beyond a Mixed Message:
A Child's Right to Physical Integrity
All people living in Canada are legally protected from physical
assault (except in certain specific situations). However,
as in most countries of the world there is an exception: children.
Section 43 of the Canadian Criminal Code states:
"Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place
of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction
toward a pupil or a child, as the case may be, who is under
his care, if the force does not exceed what is reasonable
under the circumstances."
This has been interpreted by some judges to mean that the
judiciary should not interfere with parental use of physical
punishment. In one case, the parental punishment was a beating
with a belt (S. v Supt. of Family & Child Services, Prov.
B.C. 1987). In a more recent case the punishment involved
a father kicking his son (R v K. [M.] 1992).
Research into physical punishment suggests that physical
punishment is ineffective as a disciplinary procedure and
is harmful in its long term effects on children's social development.
In an extensive investigation into physical child abuse, most
cases were found to have started as physical disciplinary
actions that then escalated out of control (Kadushin and Martin
1981). Strauss (1991) found that physical punishment tended
to "increase the probability of deviance, including delinquency
in adolescence and violent crime both inside and outside the
family as adult." In a longitudinal study, Newson and Newson
(1990) found, after controlling for poverty and unemployment,
that frequent physical punishment as a child was associated
with juvenile crime.
There is increasing understanding in many countries that
children are entitled to the same rights of physical integrity
as adults, and that denying these rights has great costs.
Commissions in the U.S., Australia and Germany concerned with
violence in the home, in the schools and on the street, have
all recommended that widespread educational campaigns be undertaken
to discourage physical punishment. Five European countries
have passed legislation that bans all forms of physical punishment.
The Federal Justice Minister of Germany has made a commitment
to do so within the next 18 months. These countries are Sweden
(1979), Finland (1984), Denmark (1986), Norway (1987), and
Austria (1989). In 1985 the EEC Council of Europe recommended
that all member countries should review their legislation
"...in order to limit or indeed prohibit corporal punishment...even
if such a violation does not necessarily entail a criminal
penalty." These changes in legislation have been enacted to:
affirm the rights of children, act as a "gateway" to reduce
physical child abuse, and to encourage more positive parenting
practices. Where they have been most successful, they have
been combined with an imaginative and extensive educational
campaign. The new laws either carry no penalty or mild fines
and have provision for restraining children if they are endangering
others or themselves. Research conducted in Sweden suggests
the changes have had positive results.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,
which Canada ratified in December 1991, clearly notes in Article
19.1 "States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative,
administrative, social and educational measures to protect
the child from all forms of physical and mental violence..."
In Canada, several organizations have released statements
calling for abolition of Section 43. A similar draft position
paper is being prepared by Dr. Tom Hay of the Institute for
the Prevention of Child Abuse, for the Canadian Coalition
on the Rights of the Child, which has some 40 member organizations.
This paper will also recommend legislative change. Dr. Ezzat
A. Fattah of the S.F.U. School of Criminology has recommended
discouraging the use of physical punishment to begin to reduce
crime. Dr. Marie Hay of the Child Development Centre has developed
several "No Smacking Zones" in order to raise awareness of
alternative disciplinary methods. Dr. Hay has made a proposal
to extend this to the whole city of Prince George.
Changes to legislation are based on changes in public understanding;
the legal changes can then act to further change public opinion.
Individuals and Boards can advance the right of children to
physical integrity by drawing up position statements in opposition
to Section 43 and by disseminating information that will help
parents develop more positive approaches to child-rearing.
Individuals and organizations requiring research papers,
more information, practical parenting leaflets, or who have
developed Board position statements in opposition to Section
43 can contact the EPOCH B.C. Coalition c/o Ms. Lynda Beynon,
Langley Family Services, 5339 - 207 Street, Langley, B.C.
V3A 2E6.
End Physical Punishment of Children -B.C. Coalition, is
comprised of educators and people from family service and
anti-family violence organizations. It is named after EPOCH
Worldwide, founded in 1989 in the United Kingdom. The Coalition's
goals are: 1. the repeal of Section 43 and 2. the development
of a national education and awareness campaign on the benefits
of alternative methods of discipline, the harmful nature of
physical punishment, and the potential for physical punishment
to escalate into physical child abuse.
James Lindfield, Writer
References:
Kadushin, A. and Martin, J. (1981). Child abuse: An interactional
event. New York: Columbia University Press.
Newson, J. and Newson, E. (1990). The extent of physical
punishment in the UK.
R. v K. (M.). (1992). Court of Appeal of Manitoba, Suit
No. AR 91-30-00546.
S. v Superintendent of Family and Child Services of the
Province of B.C. (1987)
Strauss, M.A. Discipline and deviance: Physical punishment
of children and violence and other crime in adulthood. Social
Problems, Vol. 38, No. 2, May 1991
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