Opinion: Smacking bill another instance of state interference

Willie McIntyre

Somehow I don’t think so.

Assault is defined in Scots law as an attack on another with evil intent or intent to injure. Do parents who apply a gentle smack to an unruly child as a warning, have the necessary mens rea or evil intent to constitute the crime of assault?

As for sending people to prison for a smack, well, that isn’t going to happen. You can quite seriously injure someone these days without fear of imprisonment. In Scotland, there is already a presumption against prison sentences of less than three months, with the Scottish government seeking to raise that to twelve months.

Is a sheriff really going to jail a parent for more than a year for skelping a naughty wean? And by sending a mother or father or both to prison for a smack, or even imposing a fine that will only impact the household finances, how is that possibly benefitting the child or society?

The truth is that a parent who smacks a child won’t even be prosecuted far less sent to prison. Unless it is the type of actual assault already illegal under the current law, that is, a blow to the head, one that leaves a mark or injury or involves use of an implement such as a belt, a parent who smacks can expect to receive a warning letter or a fixed penalty.

Just enough for the matter to be recorded on a Disclosure Scotland report making sure that the parent will no longer be permitted to work or volunteer with children, young adults or the elderly, and quite possibly lose their job if employed by a school, the NHS or a care home.

This proposed change is not simply the state once more interfering with parental control, it’s another example of the Scottish government tinkering with Scots criminal law, making changes that at best will have no effect other than to ruin the family life and employment prospects of many responsible parents who would never dream of actually harming their children, and who are only trying their best to raise a family.

Willie McIntyre