Ban smacking, children's tsar urges
Date posted: 19/08/2014
Parents should be banned from smacking children, the Children's Commissioner for England, Maggie Atkinson, has said.
She told the Independent the law gave pets and adults more rights to protection from violence than children.
She said that there was a legal "loophole around the fact that you can physically chastise your child", and called for a total ban under which parents could face criminal action. But she added that actively campaigning for a ban would not be a priority.
Under current laws, mild smacking is allowed but any which causes visible bruising, grazes, scratches, swellings or cuts is not.
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