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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
Stars of the Local child future assaults soar BY MYLES HUME
MYLES.H@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Child assaults in Mid Canterbury have soared since the antismacking law came into force, police statistics reveal. The figures also suggest violence against children is worsening with 28 manual assault cases recorded in 2012, the highest rate in almost two decades, which resulted in local children being injured. Debate around child assault and the anti-smacking law has erupted this week after statistics found fewer parents were hitting their children, but local principals and parents suspect it is still going on behind closed doors. Conservative Party leader Colin Craig added fuel to the fire, saying he physically disciplined his 8-year-old daughter, and said he would look to repeal the anti-smacking law in exchange for his support of National. The law was introduced in 2007, meaning parents could no longer use “reasonable force” as a defence while being prosecuted for child assaults, making smacking a child effectively illegal. Since the law was introduced,
Mid Canterbury Summer Singing School senior cast members Alice Butterick and Amy Reddecliff performed with their fellow students at the Ashburton Trust Event Centre at the weekend. The Les Miserables performance by the senior cast was one of the highlights of the show. PHOTO JOSEPH JOHNSON 180114-JJ-016
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an average of 15 manual child assault offences a year to 2012 were recorded in the Mid-South Canterbury policing district. That is compared with 5.2 per year from 2000 to 2007, before the law was introduced. A police report into the law showed although there was an increase in reported child assaults, there were just eight prosecutions for a ‘smacking’ event nationally since the June 2007 law change and 46 for minor acts of physical discipline. Police define a ‘smack” as a slap with the open hand on the buttocks or legs that does not result in injury, while minor acts are an open hand slap to other parts of the body without inflicting injury. Due to the low prosecution rate, assistant police commissioner Malcolm Burgess said initial fears that ‘good parents’ would be criminalised continued to be proven wrong. Ashburton family and criminal lawyer Marilyn Gilchrist said child assaults did emerge in the Ashburton District Court occasionally, but she put the increase in child assault statistics down to a spike in reporting since the law was introduced.
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