In September 2008 I wrote this: Unfortunately, what this [the repeal of section 59] does to parents is place them in a position of having no clear idea what is an acceptable smack. Worse still, it allows children to threaten their parents, thereby seriously reducing their authority, even if the child has no intention of [...]

The Herald reports today that 39 “minor acts of physical discipline” were brought to the attention of police, resulting in one prosecution and  37 warnings. The article goes on to say: Deputy Police Commissioner Rob Pope said the figures showed police continued to apply discretion in handling “anti-smacking” cases. Sadly, Mr. Pope completely misses the [...]

The Herald reports a 17 year old boy (who has name suppression for no apparent reason – go get ‘em, Whale) has been sentenced to 8 months home detention (on top of 4 months in custody – an effective 12 month sentence) for assisting the suicide of 16-year-old Ben Dowdell. I won’t be revisiting the [...]

Today the police have blithely announced that 12 children were killed through abuse (9 murders 3 manslaughters) over the past two years (June 2007 – June 2009). This is unchanged from previous years with an average of five children a year dying from abuse and 45 seriously injured. My immediate reaction to this was: The [...]

Has anybody noticed that the review of changes to section 59 of the Crimes Act has missed the point entirely? The review tries to make out that the police are not using the law to persecute parents who lightly smack their children. This is probably true (though I should add “at the moment” here because [...]

Apparently the case of the mother who beat her children with multiple implements is so horrible that some of the jury have been in tears. Though, as usual, this will be portrayed as yet another example of why we needed the repeal of section 59, it is, of course, nothing of the sort. Though I [...]

John Roughan has a nice little diatribe on the smacking referendum today. He sees to think that the law as it currently stands is not confusing, but that a single referendum question is (or, at least, has “sinister undertones”). He then quote the first section of the new law: “Every parent of a child, and [...]

Man convicted for breaking son’s leg A man whose kick broke his three-year-old son’s leg was convicted when he appeared in Blenheim District Court yesterday. Otto Lereiti Misivila, 51, had admitted kicking out at his son with a socked foot to halt boisterous play with his one-year-old daughter. The Marlborough Express reported that as soon as [...]

I noticed that today the Herald weighed in on the “Yes” side of the referendum. They had a poll. They had graphs. They had a lone “No” opinion for “balance”. They had a touching testimony from a loving, well-adjusted family who had not used smacking in child-rearing for generations (Discipline without pain for 50 years [...]

I sincerely hope that John Key has read this article this morning, because it confirms exactly what I have been saying about the repeal of section 59 – Parents who have not lerned other ways of disciplining are now not disciplining their children at all. Parents are telling truancy officers that they don’t know how [...]