Good parents will be turned into criminals.
Be Reasonable Scotland
We opposed the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in October 2019. The new law came into force on 7th November 2020, making mild parental smacking a criminal offence.
Why we 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?
74%say NO
Source: ComRes, 21 Sept-2 Oct 2017
ComRes interviewed 1,010 Scottish adults online between 21 September and 2 October 2017. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all Scottish adults aged 18+.
Be Reasonable – Stop the assault on parenting
