Scotland prohibits spanking of children

Spanking children is now officially illegal in Scotland. The law, approved last year by the Scottish Parliament, went into effect on Saturday 7 November. Scotland thus becomes the first UK country to ban punishment.

Now spanking, like other physical attacks, will be considered a crime of aggression.

Prior to this law, spanking children in Scotland could have been justified as “reasonable punishment” or “justifiable assault”. A judge decided, as appropriate. Usually, the punishment could be used to hit children’s bodies, as long as it wasn’t on the head or if they used an object to hit them.

Now, any kind of assault will be considered illegal. All physical punishment in schools and other educational settings has now been completely banned. Even so, in the rest of the UK, it will remain legal to spank children, although this permission does not, under any circumstances, justify physical assaults, causing injury, bruising or threatening physical integrity.

“I am delighted that Scotland has become the first region in the UK to legislate to ensure that children, without exception, have the same protection from aggression as adults,” said Youth Minister Maree Todd.