Scotland set to become first UK country to criminalize spankings

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Scotland is to become the first country in the UK to make it a criminal offence for parents to smack their children.
Parents and carers are currently allowed to use "reasonable" physical force to discipline children.

But the Scottish government has backed moves to give children the same protection from assault as adults.

A ban on all physical punishment is expected to be overwhelmingly backed by the Scottish Parliament in a vote on Thursday afternoon.

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In Scots Law, all physical attacks on adults can be treated as assault - but children do not have the same protection.

This is because a person accused of assaulting of a child can claim a defence of "reasonable chastisement" or "justifiable assault" when they have used physical force as a form of discipline on children under the age of 16.

When deciding whether the chastisement was reasonable, the courts take into account factors such as the nature of the punishment, its duration and frequency, the age of the child and the effect - both physical and mental - it had on them.
In practice, this generally means parents are allowed to smack their children on the body - but blows to the head, shaking or the use of an implement are illegal.

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The change to the law was originally proposed by Scottish Greens MSP John Finnie, whose bill has won the support of his own party, as well as the SNP, Labour and Lib Dems - with only the Conservatives opposed.

Opinion polls have suggested a majority of people in Scotland are opposed to a smacking ban - with critics arguing that the current law is sufficient, and that the changes risk criminalising "good" parents.
But most of the responses to a consultation on Mr Finnie's bill were in favour of a ban, and the move has been widely supported by children's charities.

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