Good parents will be turned into criminals.
Stop the smacking ban
…PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED THE PETITION SO FAR
“I oppose plans to make parental smacking a criminal offence.”
SIGN THE PETITION
I am a resident of Wales and 16 years old or over.
Why oppose the smacking ban?
Police and social workers will be flooded with trivial cases leaving them struggling to stop genuine child abuse.
Parents should decide whether to smack their children, not the government.
The current law already protects children from abuse. It needs to be enforced, not changed.
Should parental smacking of children be a criminal offence?
The online poll was conducted by ComRes which interviewed 1019 Welsh adults between 13 and 25 January 2017. Data were weighted to be demographically representative.
“Yeah, but…
Answers to common arguments in favour of changing the law to criminalise parents
"GOOD PARENTS ARE NOT AT RISK FROM A CHANGE IN THE LAW"
"SMACKING IS A FORM OF CHILD ABUSE"
"CHILDREN SHOULD HAVE THE SAME PROTECTION AS ADULTS"
"SMACKING TEACHES CHILDREN TO USE VIOLENCE"
"SMACKING IS A GREY AREA IN THE LAW - IT'S SAFER TO JUST BAN IT"
Mum: 'Why I'm oppposed to banning parental smacking'
Mum: ‘Please don’t criminalise loving parents’
‘Government interference will overload social services’
Be Reasonable – Stop the assault on parenting
FAQ
MoreWhat is being proposed?
Currently parents in Wales are allowed to ‘reasonably chastise’ their children. The First Minister has committed to outlaw this. He intends to do this by removing the defence of ‘reasonable chastisement’.
What is ‘reasonable chastisement’?
The ‘reasonable chastisement' defence prevents parents from being criminalised for smacking their children.