NI successfully avoids proposed smacking ban

Activists have failed to push through proposals to remove the legal defence of “reasonable punishment” in Northern Ireland.

Alliance MLA Michelle Guy’s amendment to the Justice Bill, which would have criminalised parents for lightly smacking their children, was not selected for debate.

The Scottish Government came under fire for instructing people to call 999 on parents when it made smacking illegal in 2020, and over 350 parents have been criminalised in Wales since it introduced a ban in 2022.

‘Waste of time’

Simon Calvert, Deputy Director for The Christian Institute, told the BBC that it is “important to recognise that all physical abuse is already illegal”.

“The reasonable chastisement defence protects parents from unfair prosecution over very minor, reasonable actions, like a mum tapping a toddler on the back of the hand to stop them reaching for an electrical socket – the kind of thing most of us experienced as kids from parents who loved us.”

He explained that over 100 parents a year fall foul of Wales’ ban, saying: “Thankfully, the Welsh Government was forced to adopt a non-prosecution policy for these cases. If they were actually prosecuting two parents a week for smacking, there’d be an outcry and the law would likely have been scrapped.

“Criminalising reasonable parenting decisions does not help genuinely abused children – it simply ties up police and social services with investigating good parents, leaving them less time to focus on the kids who really need their help.”

‘No evidence’

Earlier this year, the Institute told Stormont that a smacking ban could backfire and endanger children.

The CI’s own report showed that there is no evidence smacking causes lasting harm to children, and warned that a ban risks criminalising loving parents and diverting resources away from children in actual need.

Backing the research, academic Dr Ashley Frawley from the University of Kent called on Stormont to “prioritise real support for families over ideologically driven laws that ignore context and common sense”.