Video Information
On October 17, 2022, Nine's news and current affairs program, 'A Current Affair', televised an interview with child by psychologist Dr Justin Coulson in which he argues in detail the shortcomings of physically punishing children.
On November 25, 2022, Innerfire Ministries posted a video discussion titled 'Using corporal punishment the right way' in which the two presenters criticise some of the research studies opposing corporal punishment and explain how they believe it should be applied.
On October 13, 2022, Channel 10's current affairs program, The Project, televised a brief panel discussion of calls to ban smacking in Australia.
On August 2, 2022, Business Education Resources posted a BBC documentary (produced in 2011) titled 'Crime and Punishment: The Story of Corporal Punishment'. The one-hour documentary traces the history of physical punishment from the 18th century to the present, examining its use in society, prisons, schools and within homes.
On June 16, 2022, Sky News televised a discussion between presenters around the appropriateness of smacking.
On February 23, 2022, Good Morning Britain televised a debate around the law changes in Wales that now prohibit parents from smacking their children. The debate is between a child psychologist and a criminologist who take different positions on the issue.
On April 16, 2021, Nine News televised a segment reporting recent findings that any form of physical punishment increased children's anxiety and readiness to feel fear.
On March 21, 2022, GBNews televised a report on the physical punishment of children having been made illegal in Wales. The report includes several comments on the issue.
On November 2, 2021, Nine's Parental Guidance, a parenting advice program, televised a segment presenting a couple with a strict parenting style that includes smacking. The segment provoked critical comment from the other participants about the appropriateness of smacking.
On July 19, 2017, WHJL reported on findings that physical punishment in Tennessee schools was disproportionately directed at students with disabilities and that physical punishment overall did more harm than good.
In 2008 the Council of Europe began an education and awareness campaign to shift public attitudes away from support for the physical punishment of children. This animation was part of that campaign.
|
Should Australian parents be legally prevented from physically punishing their children?
- Web links, documents and video clips
On November 4, 2022, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) recommended that Australia should 'explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in law in all settings, including in homes...and [that it should] repeal the legal defence of "reasonable chastisement".
The Committee makes recommendations relevant to several countries, including a significant number to Australia. The anti-corporal punishment recommendation to Australia is recommendation 48.
The full text can be accessed at 
On October 25, 2022, the online parenting magazine Happy Families published a lengthy comment and analysis by psychologist Dr Justin Coulson, who is a consultant to the Federal Government's Office of the Children's e-Safety Commissioner. The article is titled 'Why It's Not Ok to Smack Your Kids'.
Though the article clearly opposes physical punishment, it gives a thorough and well-considered overview of both sides of the debate and the development of the issue over time.
The full text can be found at
On October 16, 2022, The Epoch Times published a comment by Gabriël Moens, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Queensland. The opinion piece is titled 'Smacking: Discipline or Abuse?'. Moens explains the difficulties of definition around determining what might be legally justifiable physical punishment of children.
The full text can be accessed at
On October 13, 2022, the Parenting & Family Research Alliance (PAFRA) released a briefing paper titled, 'Corporal punishment of children in Australia: The evidence-based case for legislative reform', which argued for Australia to make the physical punishment of children illegal. It gave detailed recent research data to support its position.
The full text of the article can be accessed at
On October 13, 2022, Nine Honey.com.au published an opinion piece by Jo Abi titled ''Being smacked as a child damaged me, but I still don't want it to be criminalised'. Abi explains why physical punishments harms children but argues that parents should be educated against it rather than be legally penalized.
The full text can be accessed at
On September 9, 2022, The Sydney Morning Herald published an article titled 'New data prompts call to abolish Australia's "ancient" smacking laws' which referred to recent findings of Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety ((ANROWS) regarding the heightened risk of aggressive behaviour from children who were physically punished in the home. The risk has been associated with an increased likelihood of domestic abuse in adulthood.
The full text can be accessed at
On July 26, 2022, The Conversation published an opinion piece titled 'Research shows it's harmful to smack your child, so what should parents do instead?'. Written by Professor Daryl Higgins, Director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University and Professor Sophie Havighurst, the Leader of Tuning in to Kids Research and Dissemination at the University of Melbourne, the article offers a range of research-supported child management techniques.
The full text can be accessed at
On June 16, 2022, The Herald Sun published an article by Susie O'Brien and Olivia Jenkins titled 'Call for smacking ban after study reveals 60pc of Aussie kids were physically punished'. The news report treats the preliminary findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study.
The report can be accessed at
On April 25, 2022, The Canberra Weekly published an opinion piece titled, 'Time to end corporal punishment of children' by Angelika Poulsen, PhD candidate in family violence at Queensland University of Technology. The comment outlines the main arguments against continuing to allow parents to physically punish their children.
The full text can be accessed at
On March 21, 2022, the Welsh pro-smacking parent lobby group, Be Reasonable, updated its information site informing parents of the possible consequences of Wales's new anti-smacking laws which had just come into effect.
Some of these warning can be accessed at
On November 23, 2021, the United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) released a fact sheet titled 'Corporal punishment and health'. The information sheet details the physical, psychological and cognitive harms caused to children by physical punishment.
The full text can be accessed at
On May 3, 2021, The Conversation published a comment by Angelika Poulsen from the Queensland University of Technology titled 'Evidence shows children who are smacked are more likely to be involved in partner violence in adulthood' which reveals that children who receive corporal punishment have an increased likelihood of being part of domestic abuse when adults.
The full text can be accessed at
On February 7, 2020, Mamamia published a feature article by Belinda Jepsen titled 'It's perfectly legal to smack a child in Australia. But there's evidence it shouldn't be.'. Zepsen marshals the major points of evidence raised against physically punishing children and considers what the alternatives might be.
The full text can be accessed at
On December 30, 2019, Reformed Perspective published a comment by Mark Penninga of the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada, titled 'Exposing the poor research fueling the anti-spanking campaign'.
The opinion piece highlights some of the supposed weaknesses in the data supporting anti-smacking laws.
The full text can be accessed at
On October 16, 2019, the Welsh pro-smacking parents lobby group, Be Reasonable, released an article titled '10 reasons not to ban smacking'. The comment presents ten arguments opposing the banning of smacking.
The full text can be accessed at
On July 2, 2019, The Local published a news report titled 'France to finally ban smacking children - but parents won't be punished'. The report details the intentions of the new French legislation which are to educate parents not to penalize them.
The full text can be accessed at
In May 2019, the American Psychological Association (APA) published a feature by Eve Glicksman titled 'Physical discipline is harmful and ineffective'
The article details research on the adverse effects of discipline and its failure as a behaviour management strategy.
The full text can be accessed at
On November 5, 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a statement titled 'AAP policy opposes corporal punishment, draws on recent evidence' announcing its formal opposition to the physical punishment of children, drawing on research which demonstrates that children who have received corporal punishment have a greater risk of displaying aggression.
The full text can be accessed at
On October 21, 2017, The Spectator published an opinion piece by Brendan O'Neill titled 'In defence of smacking children'. The comment explains why smacking is often a necessary and effective punishment and also argues that parents would be prone to legal harassment and potential prosecution if smacking were made illegal.
The full text can be accessed at
On May 5, 2017, The Herald Sun published an opinion piece by Susie O'Brien titled 'Smacking your child is unacceptable'. The comment argues that smacking should be disallowed because it obscures child abuse, is harmful and ineffective.
The full comment can be accessed at
On February 14, 2017, Mercator Net published a comment by Robert Larzelere, professor of Parenting at the Department of Human Development and Family Science, Oklahoma State University, titled 'Is it harmful to smack your child?'
The opinion piece criticises the data on which some anti-smacking campaigners base their arguments. It also claims that some forms of physical punishment have been found to be non-injurious to children and effective in managing behaviour.
The full text can be accessed at
In January 2017, American College of Pediatricians published a report by Robert Larzelere, professor of Parenting at the Department of Human Development and Family Science, Oklahoma State University and Dr Dem Trumbull of the American College of Paediatricians, titled 'Research on Disciplinary Spanking is Misleading'. The report detailed the authors' criticisms of some of the prominent research supposedly indicating that smacking is harmful to children.
The full text can be accessed at
On September 16, 2014, Time news magazine published a comment by clinical psychologist Dr Jared Pingleton, titled 'Spanking Can Be an Appropriate Form of Child Discipline'.
In the opinion piece Pingleton attempts to explain the principles generally recommended by those who argue in favour of physical punishment for some children.
The full text can be accessed at
|
|
