Friday, August 21, 2009
Who said this. And when
The way to send a strong message on child abuse is to make the law clear and precise and then to police it strongly and vigilantly. This bill as it stands does the opposite. For me, a result that sees the criminalisation of parents for a light smack is simply not on the table.Anyway, its not the "criminalisation" of parents that is the issue here. Parents don’t want to have to be looking over their shoulders or glancing sideways if they should smack their kid in the supermarket or the mall or wherever, wondering who has ratted on them to the police or to the CYFS. Nor do they want fear investigation or prosecution for an act that they dont consider criminal.
That’s what the law has done. The law needs to be changed. As David Farrar says, Parliament should not insist that a smack is a criminal offence if it lacks majority support for being a criminal act - or in this case one that has massive and sustained opposition. Criminal laws that that have opposition by so many people should be changed.
